Spotlight: Death of Gipsy Smith, the Bushranger (13/07/1852)

It appears that Smith and two of his companions, by name Bailey and Sullivan, had taken possession of a dray, belonging to a man from Adelaide, who with his wife were proceeding to the Diggings. Smith, having previously separated the man from his wife, arrived with his companions at Roston’s Station. It is stated that whilst camped there, and when Smith on one occasion was washing himself, one of several pistols that he always carried in his jacket went off accidentally, and killed him almost instantly.

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Spotlight: Gilbert (08/07/1865)

Gilbert was but twenty-five years old at time of his death, but was of a stout build and capable of undergoing great exertion. He was the son of respectable parents, and his father is now living Taradale, in Victoria where he has for some years resided, following the occupation of mining, and is stated to have been much grieved at the lawless habits of his unfortunate son. But little is known of the early life of Gilbert, except that he was engaged as stock rider in some stations about Forbes, and that at the end of the year 1862, he, like several other young men of loose habits, became inflamed with the passion and desire of becoming highwaymen, thinking it no doubt a grand thing and a noble pursuit instead of honestly and quietly working industriously for a livelihood.

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Spotlight: Shooting of Pat Connell

INFORMATION was brought into town on Wednesday morning last of the police having, the day previous, pursued the bushrangers whose depredations at Mudmelong on Monday last were recorded in our last issue, and of the death of one of their number, Pat Connell, during the encounter which ensued. The news was brought into town at an early hour in the morning, between one and two o’clock the same day the body of the dead outlaw was brought in by Sergeant Creagh and his party from Ballalaba, where it had been conveyed and detained the previous night. Continue reading Spotlight: Shooting of Pat Connell

Spotlight: DEATH OF JOHNNY GILBERT & INQUEST ON BEN HALL

On Thursday night a horse was stolen out of a paddock at Murrumburrah, of which no particulars could be ascertained till about eleven o’clock on Friday morning, when a man named Furlonge, who was travelling with sheep, stated that he had been visited by Gilbert and Dunn, who rounded up his horses and took a favorite animal, leaving in its stead the one taken from Murrumburrah.

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Spotlight: THE CAPTURE AND DEATH OF MORGAN.

Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), Thursday 13 April 1865, page 6 THE CAPTURE AND DEATH OF MORGAN. We take the following detailed account of the termination of the career of this ruffian from the Ovens and Murray Advertiser, of 11th April : — Daniel Morgan, who for two years has been the terror of the neighboring colony of Now South Wales, from the frequency and malignity of his bloody outrages, made his first attempt at robbery in Victoria at Mackinnon’s station, on the Little River, on Wednesday, the 5th inst., and lay dead, shot through the body by … Continue reading Spotlight: THE CAPTURE AND DEATH OF MORGAN.

The Battle of Bringelly

As with most bushrangers who transcend history to become enshrined in folklore, Jack Donahoe (aka Donohoe, Donahue) made the leap from brigand to legend in his final stoush with the forces of law and order. His recklessness in the face of death seemed to strike a chord with Australians of a certain class.
This year marks 190 years since Donahoe’s death, so it seems appropriate to recount the final battle that sealed his place in history. Continue reading The Battle of Bringelly