It is no surprise that things were very different in the colonial era. However, it can be a shock when we discover just how different things were – especially in relation to crime and punishment. While flogging, leg irons and … Continue reading The Dark Side of the Law
Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 – 1931), Saturday 8 August 1914, page 37 HISTORIC OLD GAOL DARLINGHURST CLOSED “‘Gallows Hill’. we called it.”“There were many executions in those ‘good’ (?) old days.”“Early in the morning there sounded the clanking of irons as as the chain gang wended its weary way from Hyde Park Barracks to work on Flagstaff Hill or Fort Phillip. In the evening the tired convicts clanked wearily back through Jamieson and Hunter streets to the park. But ‘Gallows’ Hill is no more. Hyde Park and Carter’s Barracks are but memories. Now Darlinghurst is gone. For the first … Continue reading Spotlight: Historic Old Gaol – Darlinghurst Closed – 1914
When it comes to law enforcement we usually think of colonial era police as stern, bearded, working class men with no time for the criminal ilk (or perhaps even some of them were little more than the criminal ilk in … Continue reading Fops and Cops
One of the most popular highwaymen of the earlier half of the 19th century, William Westwood arrived in Australia as a teenager and soon became one of the most renowned highwayman in Australian history using the pseudonym Jacky Jacky but met a grisly end on Norfolk Island. Continue reading William Westwood: An Overview
When we picture bushrangers we think of wild young men on horseback dodging police and sticking up coaches but Harry Power certainly did not fit that image. Power (alias Henry Power, Johnstone) is forever remembered as the tutor of Ned Kelly but there was a time when he could capture the imagination on his own terms. Continue reading Harry Power: An Overview
Rolf de Heer’s The Tracker, starring the legendary David Gulpilil in the first lead role of his career, is the story of a posse in the Northern Territory searching for an Aboriginal man accused of murdering a white woman and the harrowing misadventures that occur along the way. First released in 2002, it was lauded by industry types and critics for its lyrical and powerful study of racism in post-colonial times. Continue reading The Tracker (Review)
This etching from 1877 may be quite crude for its time but it relates to a forgotten piece of bushranging history. In January 1877, reports of a bushranger operating near Albury began to surface. The offender was most notable for … Continue reading Spotlight: Bushranging at the Billabong
Few names stand out in bushranging history quite like the self proclaimed “Prince of Tobeymen” himself – Frank Gardiner. Often considered the godfather of bushranging, he was responsible for the largest gold heist in colonial Australian history and introduced many … Continue reading Frank Gardiner: An Overview
Owen Suffolk was a bushranger who spent more than a decade in prison for a range of crimes, particularly Pentridge Prison. Suffolk gained the moniker “The Poet” for his deftness with poetry much of which refers to the experience of convicts and bushrangers. Perhaps his most well-known is For Frank Gardiner. It is a bold declaration of defiance and desire for freedom at any cost, the sort of liberty the outlaw archetype represents free from the constraints of the law and the mores of society; a liberty denied Frank Gardiner when he was finally apprehended at Apis Creek and dragged back to New South Wales. Continue reading Spotlight: For Frank Gardiner
For this week’s feature we invited Georgina Rose Stones to pen her thoughts on Joe Byrne, lieutenant of the Kelly Gang. Georgina is a journalism student who has studied the Kelly story in detail and has been active in the … Continue reading Joe Byrne: An Opinion