Young Ben Hall

Ben Hall (9 May 1837 - 5 May 1865) 

Ben Hall was born in 1837, in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. His father was Benjamin Hall born in England and his mother Eliza was born in Ireland. His parents had both been transported to Van Dieman's Land due to minor stealing offences. His father was given his certificate of freedom in 1832 and he married Eliza Somers in 1834 in New South Wales. Ben was their fourth child and as a teenager he worked on numerous cattle properties gaining a good reputation as a hard-working stockman.
At 19 he married Bridget Walsh at Bathurst and 2 years later they had a son who they named Henry.
In 1860, Ben Hall and John Maguire jointly leased a  run of 10,000 acres near Forbes, in the Central West of New South Wales.  They built a house, sheds and stockyards and became successful graziers of cattle.

“I'm not a criminal. I've been driven to this life.  Pottinger arrested me on Forbes racecourse last year and I was held for a month in gaol, an innocent man.  While I was away me wife ran away - with a policeman.  Well, with a cove who used to be in the police force.  Then I was arrested for the mail coach robbery and held another month before I was let out on bail.  When I came home, I found my house burned down and cattle perished of thirst, left locked in yards." Ben Hall.

His life changed, his wife had left him, his house and cattle were gone and he met the notorious bushranger Frank Gardiner.

SOURCES:

• New South Wales, Australia, Certificates of Freedom, 1810-1814, 1827-1867 about Benjamin Hall (his father)
• Australia Marriage Index, 1788-1950 about Benjamin Hall (his father)
• New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Convicts' Applications to Marry, 1826-1851 about Eliza Somers