Jack Bradshaw is included in many bushranging history books, however, it is debatable whether he really was a bushranger on the basis of the standard definition. According to Jack he was "the last of the Bushrangers". Also according to Jack he was born in Dublin in 1846 and brought to Melbourne by an unidentified relative in 1860. Shortly after his arrival he left Melbourne and for a while held a series of honest jobs as a shearer, station hand and farm labourer in Victoria and New South Wales.

This work must have palled because he joined up with a conman known as "Professor Bruce". Bruce claimed he was a Phrenologist who could read people's characters by feeling the bumps on their heads (Phrenology was a pseudo science at the time, p articularly among Criminologists). The people would roll up and be amazed at the accuracy of his pronunciations. In fact what happened was that Bradshaw would arrive in the town targeted for the next con and spend days or even weeks getting to know the people and learn as much about them as possible. He would then pass this information on to Bruce before he arrived. Any sort of entertainment was popular in country towns, so there was always a ready source of people willing to part with their hard-earned money.

For what ever reason by 1878 Bradshaw turned to more criminal acts. In 1878 he teamed up with two professional criminals and ex-prisoners named "Red Lance" and "After Dark". They then began robbing people before planning to bail up and rob the Merriwa Bank. However, the robbery went awry when they mistakenly bailed up a storekeeper instead of the bank manager as he made his way to the bank. They immediately fled the scene and Bradshaw parted company with them shortly afterwards.

He then joined up in 1879 with another villain known as "Lovely" Riley because of his extremely ugly looks. This was at the time that the Kelly Gang was terrorising the country. They stole and sold horses for a time before planning to bail up and rob the Coolah Bank. This time they were successful in bailing up the Manager and forcing him to open the safe. However, they made so much noise that the Manager's pregnant wife's midwife came in and abused them so roundly that they turned and fled empty-handed.

In May 1880 they finally succeeded. They bailed up the manager of the Quirindi Bank with Bradshaw threatening to blow out his brains if he refused to open the safe. This time they made off with two thousand pounds and headed for Tamworth. Here, Riley got drunk and bragged about the robbery. He was promptly arrested. Bradshaw immediately fled to Armidale with his share of the money. Here, under the name of Davis he returned to his conman's habits by courting the daughter of a wealthy landowner. The couple subsequently married, however, their marriage was short-lived as Bradshaw was soon arrested for the Quirindi bank robbery.

He was sentenced to twelve years in gaol, however, was released in 1888. However, he was unable to keep out of trouble and shortly afterward was rearrested and returned to gaol for stealing mail and money from registered mail bags. Bradshaw was released in 1901, just after the destruction of the Governors. He was now 55 and discovered a new way to make a modest living. Calling himself "the last of the Bushrangers," he roamed around Victoria and New South Wales giving lectures on his life as a bushranger. He also wrote a book entitled "The True History Of The Australian Bushrangers" which he was still selling door-to-door in 1931.

Many of the claims and statements in the book have been questioned and disproved. Bradshaw claimed that he had known all the bushrangers, or at least all those between John Peisley in 1860 and the Kellys in 1880. Those he hadn't ridden with he claimed he had either met or had been in gaol with, even though research has proved in all cases that such accounts were impossible and incorrect. Comparisons have proved he drew heavily upon the accounts of such contemporary historians as Charles White and George Boxall as well as serialised manuscripts by Ambrose Pratt, John McGuire and John Vane.

In his book Bradshaw repeatedly paints the bushrangers as innocent victims of external forces and circumstances and in this process attacks several decent, brave and honest colonial men and women. Foremost among this group are most of the men of the New South Wales and Victorian Mounted Police, many of whom were dead and unable to defend themselves, assuming they needed defending. Their acts were already well known. Due to the exposed errors in his writings Jack Bradshaw effectively missed the opportunity to be recognised as a significant commentator and historian of the period.

This article © Andrew Stackpool, 1998.