Frank Gardiner led a notorious gang

Frank Gardiner 1829 - ? date unknown

Frank Gardiner was born Francis Christie in 1829 in Ross-shire, Scotland to Charles Christie (1791 – 1864) and Jane Christie (1800 – 1842), née Whittle. He came to Australia in 1834 with his parents.

He began his career as a criminal in 1850 by stealing horses and was apprehended and tried at the Geelong Circuit Court and sentenced to five years imprisonment, with hard labour, as Francis Christie, in Pentridge, Melbourne.  He escaped and was recaptured 4 years later when he was again arrested for horse-stealing and given seven years hard labour.

He conducted the largest robbery of gold in Australian history in 1862 with Ben Hall and Johnny Gilbert. Who were part of his notorious gang: (This list is from WikiTree)

1. Ben Hall - Shot dead by police

2. Frank Gardiner - Sentenced to 32 years in prison (served 10 years and then exiled from Australia

3. John Gilbert - Shot dead by police

4. John Davis, one of the Three Jacks-Sentenced to 15 years in prison

5. John McGuiness, one of the Three Jacks - Shot dead (probably by Gardiner for leaving Davis alone to fight police)

6. John Connors, one of the Three Jacks

7. John Youngman - Skipped bail and disappeared

8.  Patrick Daley - Sentenced to fifteen years in prison

9.Henry Manns - Hanged

10. Alexander Fordyce - Sentenced to death, later commuted to fifteen years in prison

11. Dan Charters - Caught, testified against the gang

12. John Bow - Sentenced to death, later commuted to fifteen years in prison

13. John O’Meally - Shot dead

14. Fred Lowry - Shot dead by police

15. Larry Cummins - Sentenced to fifteen years in prison

16. Francis Foley (younger brother of notorious bushranger, John Foley) - Sentenced to ten years in prison

17. Michael Burke - Shot himself dead after receiving a mortal stomach wound

18. John Vane - Sentenced to fifteen years in prison, paroled after six years

19. John Dunleavy - Sentenced to life in prison

20. Jin Gordon, AKA Old Man James Mount - sentenced to twenty five years in prison

21. John Dunn - Hanged

22. John Peisley - Hanged

This hold up, of the Lachlan Gold Escort coach, near Eugowra, N.S.W. was of 14,000 pounds.
Gardiner fled to Queensland and was arrested there in 1864, tried and found guilty on two charges and given a sentence of 32 years hard labour. In 1874 Gardiner was released, due to public petitioning. A large petition signed by Members of Parliament, magistrates, doctors and many notables was given to the Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson. The Governor decided that Gardiner had been harshly sentenced and released him subject to his exile. This decision caused a public controversy which led to the fall of the Parkes government.

In 1874 Gardiner travelled to Hong Kong and then California where he later owned the Twilight Star Saloon in San Francisco. There are many rumours about his life in America, none of which have been proven. 
It is not know for sure when he died and his death was reported many times between 1880 to 1904. The uncertainty is mainly due to the destruction of records in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Unfortunately, as yet, I cannot find a better portrait of Frank Gardiner or Frank Christie (his real name).

SOURCES: 
Ancestry Family Tree.
Australian Dictionary of Biography Gardiner, Francis article by Edgar F. Penzig.
TROVE: The Capricornian Newspaper. Rockhampton, Qld. Saturday 14th October 1905.
Charles White, Australian Bushranging, Gardiner "King of the Road".
G. E. Boxall, The Story of the Australian Bushrangers.