In outback Queensland in the late 19th century, everyone had a Wild Scotchman story. How he escaped from police custody and pinned his fetters to a tree with a file. How he eluded recapture time and again. How he was shot by Sir Frederick Pottinger in New South Wales. How he sent Governor Sir GeorgeContinue reading “A brief history of Queensland bushranging: the Wild Scotchman”
Category Archives: Bushrangers
A look back at bushranging from 1912.
Chronicles of Queensland in the early days: Some Early Bushrangers— Race Meeting on the Condamine— Knocking Down Big Cheques— A Hot Time— Sticking up the Mail— A Good Bit of Tracking — A Pigeon-toed Horse —Capture of the Criminals— Kirk and Grey— A “Green” Police Sergeant (BY “OLD CHUM”). No. 71 Many years ago, aContinue reading “A look back at bushranging from 1912.”
A Brief History of bushranging in Queensland. Part 3.
1865 – The year that everything changed. We cannot omit to notice a very happy result of the advantages likely to accrue from telegraphic communication, adverted to by a gentleman who charged himself with what may be deemed the representation of the moral and religious aspect of the question. This gentleman stated that he foresawContinue reading “A Brief History of bushranging in Queensland. Part 3.”
The indictment of the bushranger “The Wild Scotchman”
Before I publish the third part of A Brief History of Queensland Bushranging, I wanted to share the indictment of James Alpin McPherson, alias The Wild Scotchman, who bailed up and stole from the mails relentlessly in the mid 1860s. He did not injure any of his victims, and this is why this particular bushranger was ableContinue reading “The indictment of the bushranger “The Wild Scotchman””
A Brief History of Bushranging in Queensland. Part 2.
Free Settlement to Separation to the Gold Rushes of the North. Bushranging – once the term used to describe escaped convicts – gradually came to mean armed robbery and a life spent on the roads, dodging the law. In the 1820s and 1830s in New South Wales and Tasmania, men like Jack Donohue “The WildContinue reading “A Brief History of Bushranging in Queensland. Part 2.”
A Brief History of Bushranging in Queensland. Part 1.
1824-1842 Moreton Bay Convict Settlement “Bushranging” was a term invented around 1805 to describe the actions of escaped convicts who took to the bush, often leading violent outlaw lives to secure food and avoid capture. Absconding became an attractive option in the penal settlements of Sydney (est. 1788) and Van Diemen’s Land (est. 1803). Food was scarce, rations wereContinue reading “A Brief History of Bushranging in Queensland. Part 1.”
Podgy The Bushranger is sentenced- 25 September
This post was originally published on May 19. Troden was sentenced on 25 September. He was very lucky to avoid the gallows- his saving grace, if it may be called that, was that his victims were inconvenienced rather than harmed. At 4 pm on 30 July 1868, four men were on the road to theContinue reading “Podgy The Bushranger is sentenced- 25 September”
The ‘Wild Scotchman’ gets sent down – 13 September 1866.
On 13 September 1866, a particularly daring bushranger known as the “Wild Scotchman” was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a series of daring raids during which no postman was safe, apparently. A quick glance at his first Queensland press reports give an extraordinary description of him: We are informed that the man wasContinue reading “The ‘Wild Scotchman’ gets sent down – 13 September 1866.”
Bushrangers on the goldfields – August 31 1868
On 31 August 1868, a man named – in the doubtful 19th century translation of Chinese names – Ah King Gun Woo, was returning to Bowen from the Cape River Goldfields with about 360 pounds in gold and notes and two silver watches. He was accosted by three armed bushrangers, who had blackened their facesContinue reading “Bushrangers on the goldfields – August 31 1868”
Moreton Bay and More 