With November 2019 seeing the 140th anniversary of the Wantabadgery Siege, the decision was made to make a pilgrimage to Wantabadgery. As no formal acknowledgement of the anniversary or notification of any organised commemoration thereof had been announced, I decided … Continue reading A Guide to Australian Bushranging on tour, 2019 [Blog]
John Thompson was a member of Captain Thunderbolt’s first gang in 1865. During this time he was working as a bushranger in the gang alongside Mary Ann Bugg, Thomas “The Bull” Hogan and a lad called McIntosh. The gang had been operating since January in the region around the Culgoa and Bokhara rivers when Thompson joined them in February of 1865. Continue reading Spotlight: Portrait of John Thompson
It’s Fan Art February at A Guide to Australian Bushranging. Do you have a sketch, painting, sculpture, photograph or cosplay that you’d like to share? Perhaps a drawing based on your favourite bushranger film or a Lego set based on a historic building or event? Continue reading Fan Art February 2018
Many people have a very clear image in their head of Ned Kelly: tall, muscular, bushy beard and pompadour hairstyle. This image is Ned Kelly a day before his execution, almost six months after he was nearly shot to pieces … Continue reading Looking for Ned: Life versus Legend
Humans in the 21st century are obsessed with photography. For the vast majority of us we carry a camera in our pocket wherever we go thanks to smart phone technology. It’s incomprehensible to many of us that there was a … Continue reading Picture Perfect: Bushrangers and Photography
Few images from Australia’s history have such an immediate effect on the viewer as Ned Kelly’s portrait taken on the day before his execution. Few can say they are unfamiliar with the meticulously oiled pompadour, voluminous beard and wistful eyes … Continue reading Spotlight: Ned Kelly – the final portrait
While many believe bushranging to have ended with the execution of Ned Kelly in 1880, this assumption could not be further from the truth. A prime example is the tragic story of Henry Maple, the “Boy Bushranger”. Continue reading Spotlight: Carried to Hospital Fatally Wounded