Tasmania's Bushrangers

Van Dieman’s Land from Geographicus Rare Antique Maps

A rare and unusual example of John Dower’s 1837 map of Tasmania or Van Dieman’s Land. Depicts the island in considerable detail with good notes on geographical features, especially along the coast. Maps of Tasmania are exceptionally rare and this one is no exception. Prepared by John Dower and published by Orr and Smith in 1837.

White man's history of Tasmania relating to bushrangers

1642: The first reported sighting of Tasmania by a European the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.

1804: Settlement established by Capt. David Collins in Sullivans Cove on the western side of the Derwent River. It became known as Hobart Town or Hobarton, later shortened to Hobart, after the British Colonial Secretary of the time, Lord Hobart.
Early settlers were mainly convicts sent to develop agriculture and military guards sent to watch over the convicts.
1812: Michael Howe (later a bushranger) among first convicts to arrive directly from England in HMS Indefatigable.
1814: Governor Lachlan Macquarie offers amnesty to bushrangers.
1815: Michael Howe's bushranging gang kills two settlers in New Norfolk.
1815: Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Davey declares martial law against all bushrangers, escaped convicts and military deserters; Governor Lachlan Macquarie later revokes order.
1818: Soldiers and convict kill bushranger Michael Howe on banks of Shannon River.
1821: Establishment of Macquarie Harbour penal settlement at Sarah Island.
1821: Establishment of Maria Island penal settlement.
1823 - 1824: Musquito, Black Jack and other members of the Oyster Bay tribe made raids on the east coast.
1824: Matthew Brady escapes from Sarah Island with 13 others, and begins a crime spree at homesteads and villages throughout Tasmania.
1826: Matthew Brady hanged on 4 May, at the old Hobart gaol. Four other bushrangers were hanged with him, including Thomas Jeffries the cannibal.
1832 - 1833: Britton's gang of four escaped convicts, himself, Beaven, Jefkins and Brown terrorised Tasmania's countryside.
1840: Start of economic depression which continues until 1845.
1840: Bushranger Martin Cash captured in Hobart, his death sentence was commuted and he was later pardoned.
1842: William Westood (Jackey Jackey) escapes from Port Arthur 3 times in one year.

REFERENCES:
the companion to TASMANIAN HISTORY Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies.
Trove 16th August 1873.

Bush School 1872

Logan/Beenleigh area, Queensland

This is believed to be the Logan non-vested (non-Government funded) school, established in 1870, in what school inspectors described, at the time, as a 'new, well-ventilated, and roomy building'.
The structure also was used as a place of worship.
One teacher was employed to teach 58 children. He was reported to be 'painstaking and conscientious', but the level of attainment was regarded as very low, caused by the irregular attendance. Among the subjects offered, geography, writing and spelling were regarded as 'especially imperfect'.

Lunch in the bush

Lunch in the bush, near Warwick, Queensland, ca.1893.

A man and woman stopping for a meal and a billy of tea. The horses have been unhitched from the double buggy. The double buggy was advertised as 'a must for squatters' as it was admirably adapted to travelling over huge logs and rutted ground. Travel in Australia during the late 1800s would have been very difficult.

RESOURCE: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

Mad Dog Morgan

1830 – 1865

We know him as Mad Dog Morgan but he was a man of many aliases: Billy the native, Down the river Jack, Dan the breaker, Jack Morgan and Mad Dan.

His known criminal record began in 1854 when, under the name "John Smith", he was sentenced to twelve years' hard labour for highway robbery at Castlemaine, Victoria.  When he was released from jail he had a hatred of authority and become Australia's public enemy No 1.

BLOODTHIRSTY MORGAN By SIR SOLOMON in The Singleton Argus 14th June, 1924.

A study of the characteristics of the Australian bushrangers operating during the great bushranging era—1860 to 1880—will disclose the fact that the methods and tactics of some differed considerably from those adopted by others. Unfortunately, all brought into prominence the traits of the ruffian, but even in this there was a graduated scale of viciousness, in which Daniel Morgan shone as the high priest of infamy.

An extract from the Victorian Police Gazette of 23rd February,1865 describes Morgan: "The following description of the NSW bushranger Morgan has been obtained from a reliable source:-  Aged 35, 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, dark swarthy com-plexion, black hair worn down to his shoulders, black moustache, and black beard, the latter rusted about his mouth, cheeks covered with hair up to the eyes, straight nose, blue eyes, slouching gait, round shoulders, inter-lards his conversation with the words of course; insolent and overbearing in his manners."

After his 3rd murder the reward for Morgan's capture was raised to £1000 and police were sent to track and capture him. He was shot and died on April 11, 1865 near Wangaratta, Victoria.