Aboriginal encampment

A 19th century engraving of an Australian aboriginal encampment.

What does a bushranger look like anyway?

Here are just some of the cads you will find on this site. They were all bushrangers.

The Term 'Bushranger' was first used in February 1805, in the Sydney Gazette which mentioned men "whose appearance sanctioned the suspicion of their being bushrangers". From this time, the term was used to describe those who attacked people on the roads or in the bush. Over 2000 bushrangers roamed the Australian countryside, from the convicts who escaped until just after the Kelly Gang's last stand.

Besides being called bushrangers (and all being dead) what else do all these men have in common? Oh yes they lived in AUSTRALIA but what else?

Well we all know Ned Kelly came from Irish stock and he had a gang and one of the gang was his brother. We also know he was tried and hung. So what about the others?

 

Henry Johnson was from Ireland, was convicted for stealing a pair of shoes and changed his name to Harry Power.

 

Thomas Rogan (middle row at left) had stolen horses before the age of 22 when he joined a gang of bushrangers, and he was later tried and hung.

Ben Hall's parent's were sent to gaol for minor stealing offences, he loved horses and died in a shootout with police. He was at one stage called 'Brave Ben Hall'.

Frederick Wordsworth Ward's father was a convict. He had worked with horses and went to prison for receiving stolen horses. There is mystery about his death with some thinking he died in a police shootout and others saying it was his relative. He was called Captain Thunderbolt.

Steve Hart was born to Irish parents, he worked as a jockey, he was in the Kelly gang. He may have died at the Glenrowan Inn shootout but some say he and Dan Kelly escaped.

 

So there seem to be some common threads such as Ireland and convicts and stealing but no one thing they all had in common. Maybe it was falling on hard luck.

What is a cad?
  Origin: 1780–90
  Meaning: bounder, rotter, rascal, rogue; heel.

The Glenrowan Inn

This photograph shows the burnt remains of the Jones's Hotel, the scene of the final confrontation between Ned Kelly and the Victorian Police.

A sign still stands: "The Glenrowan Inn, Ann Jones, best accommodation".

Source: State Library Victoria

Taken by John Bray 1880

This is where Ned Kelly, dressed in home-made plate metal armour and the infamous helmet, was captured and sent to gaol.  Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne, and Steve Hart were with him and also had suits of armour.

I do not say what brought me to Glenrowan, but it seems much. Anyhow I could have got away last night, for I got into the bush with my grey mare, and lay there all night. But I wanted to see the thing end. Part of Ned Kelly's statement to the press.

The Glenrowan Inn, owned by Ann Jones, was burned to the ground by the police after the Kelly Gang siege in June 1880.

See also: The Demise of the Kelly Gang