Spotlight: Jackey Jackey at Glenorchy (09/08/1845)
A report on a band of bushrangers on the run from Port Arthur, including Jacky Jacky (William Westwood) Continue reading Spotlight: Jackey Jackey at Glenorchy (09/08/1845)
Tag: 1840s
Spotlight: The Man Whelan and Convict Discipline (28 May 1855)
“He has been for years the play-thing and sport of officials, who scarcely deserve the name of men. Many years ago he was sentenced to transportation beyond the seas for a limited period. That sentence did not say one word about the petty tyranny which has been practised upon him and upon his fellows, under the name of prison discipline. Those who are conversant with the history of Botany Bay, at the time when Whelan was sent there, will be free to acknowledge, that it was not a convict paradise.” Continue reading Spotlight: The Man Whelan and Convict Discipline (28 May 1855)
Spotlight: Westwood writes to his parents (29 April 1847)
In a former number we gave the copy of a letter written by William Westwood, better known as Jackey Jackey, and at the time of its appearance an attempt was made to shew that he had died breathing a spirit of bitterness very unsuited to any man at the last hour of his existence. What the motives for doing Westwood such an injustice, it is not our present purpose to inquire; certain however it is, that such was not the fact, as the following copy of another letter will show. “Justice to free and bond” is our maxim in such matters, and we see no reason why the last dying thoughts of the malefactor should not be as fairly represented as those of him whose life has not been forfeited to the offended laws of his country. Continue reading Spotlight: Westwood writes to his parents (29 April 1847)
Spotlight: Cash and Co. near Richmond (14 March 1843)
Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 – 1857), Tuesday 14 March 1843, page 3 Domestic Intelligence. BUSHRANGERS.— On Sunday last the township of Richmond was put into great excitement by a report that Cash, Kavenagh, and Jones were in the neighbourhood. “What is to be done?” was the general inquiry, there being only two or three constables at the place. These, with the Police Magistrate and Captain Forth, were soon in pursuit, and in the end two men with a woman were apprehended ; the latter being an assigned woman from a farm near the township. It appears that being … Continue reading Spotlight: Cash and Co. near Richmond (14 March 1843)
Spotlight: The Trial of the Edward Davis and His Gang (1841)
John Shea was indicted for the wilful murder of John Graham, by shooting him, on the 21st of December, 1840, at St. Aubins, near Scone; and John Marshall, James Everett, Edward Davies, alias Wilkinson, Robert Chittey, and Richard Glanville, were indicted for being present as accessories, aiding and abetting.
Continue reading Spotlight: The Trial of the Edward Davis and His Gang (1841)
Spotlight: The Bothwell Police (1841)
On the Saturday about dusk, two of them arrived, entered the house, called for a pot of porter, and sat down quietly to drink it, with their fire-arms between their knees, ready for use if required. The three official gentlemen shortly after entered the room, presented their guns, and demanded a surrender, under the pain of immediate destruction. The bushrangers did not like the terms, started to their feet, and threw up the muzzles of the official muskets, one of which flashed in the pan, one went off but missed its object, and the third either refused fire, being ill prepared, or was not loaded. In the midst of the confusion, the enemy coolly extinguished the light, and deliberately walked off! Could anything be more disgraceful? When will such another opportunity offer? Continue reading Spotlight: The Bothwell Police (1841)
Spotlight: Letter to the Editor, Concerning the Jewboy Gang (1841)
Sir,—Considering it a duty due to the public I beg leave to request that you will permit me through the medium of your paper, to enquire how it was that the party of mounted police, headed by sergeant Lee, who were in pursuit of the notorious bushrangers “Marshall,” “Ruggy,” “Shay,” “Davis” and “Chitty” on or about the 14th December last, allowed them to escape their notice when they were so close that they captured three of their horses.
Continue reading Spotlight: Letter to the Editor, Concerning the Jewboy Gang (1841)
Spotlight: News from the Interior (1840)
On Sunday last, the 20th instant, information was received by Mr. Day, who fortunately for the inhabitants of the Hunter’s River districts happened to be here, that the bushrangers had visited a station of Sir Francis Forbes, distant about three miles from this place, and bailed up the persons there in order that a report might not reach Muswell Brook, and kept them so until nearly sundown, when they departed.
Spotlight: Capture of Jeffs and Conway (1843)
Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 – 1899), Wednesday 7 June 1843, page 4 THE BUSHRANGERS. We announced in our last that Jeffs and Conway had been captured. The party, headed by Mr. Thomas Connell, had explored the ground in the neighbourhood without success, and the constable had intimated to the Campbell Town police magistrate that the bushrangers were not then there. Having heard nothing of their movements since the 17th ultimo, Mr. Stuart ordered that the party should continue on the same field, until positive intelligence of the appearance of Jeffs and his companion at some other point should be … Continue reading Spotlight: Capture of Jeffs and Conway (1843)
Spotlight: Wollombi (1840)
I am sorry to have occasion to inform you that the neighbourhood has been for a third time within the period of few short weeks the scene of almost unparalleled and licentious outrage – the perpetrators, the well-known bushranging ruffians whose depredations have been so alarming to the Lower Hunter… Continue reading Spotlight: Wollombi (1840)