Gold Rushes and the Bushrangers

The Gold Rush

In 1770, following his discovery and exploration hello of the eam knstern coast of Australia, the then Lieutenant James Cook, RN, planted the Union Flag on Possession Island north of Cape York Peninsula and claimed Australia for His Britannic Majesty King George III.

In 1894 a party of prospectors dug down a foot deeper on the same spot and found a fortune in gold. It is interesting to speculate how different Australia's fortunes might have been had Cook dug his flagpole just a little bit deeper.

The story of the discovery of gold has been explored in much detail elsewhere. However, there is no doubt that Hargrave's officially announced discovery in 1851 was another classic example of the right thing in the right place at the right time. While there were still powerful vested interests who still believed in the growth of Australia as an agrarian utopia the economy had slumped in 1843 and had not recovered. Worse, thousands of young men which the country needed for its continued growth had left to the Californian goldfields in 1849. While agrarian growth remained vital, much more was needed to ensure the country's growth and prosperity.

Regardless of individuals' own ambitions and interests, the fabulous wealth generated by the discovery of gold would change the face of Australia forever. This wealth and the influx of tens of thousands of immigrants from all over the world seeking a new and better life saw a revolution which permeated all aspects of society - political, economic, communications, trade, invention and technology, sporting, social/societal, - and law and order.

As exploration for gold continued new mineral weath was to found. Copper, tin, coal, silver, precious stones, etc. and, finally, uranium. This in turn saw more and more of the land opened up and increased demand for products and services. Miners who failed to make their fortunes in gold now had an enormous range of opportunity to succeed.

The diggers were a tough, cosmopolitan lot, however, generally they were fairly law-abiding and honest. Nevertheless, the diggings became havens for widespread lawlessness and violence, as the lust for gold brought out the very worst in humanity. In addition to the goldfields lawlessness there were hundreds of people with schemes to separate unwary diggers from their hard-won gold. There were crooked or unscrupulous gold-buyers, storekeepers who charged excessive rates for goods and services, sly grog sellers, prostitutes, gamblers, innkeepers, claim salters - and bushrangers.

By the end of the 1840s bushranging had by and large become a spent force, most gangs dead or incarcerated. Now, the movement of people and goods to the fields and the streams of gold returning to the cities, often with no protection on lonely roads in slow and cumbersome coaches or bullock drays, was a temptation hundreds of cross coves couldn't refuse. Bushranging returned with a vengeance. This new breed of bushranger was an eclectic one. Some were ex-convicts and old lags, some were ex-gold diggers, some were free born, while still others were professional criminals from the old countries or the Californian goldfields. Arguably, they formed the transition from the old Bolters to the Wild Colonial Boys of the 1860s and 1870s.

Contemporary accounts reveal that bushrangers were active around the goldfields from within a few months of the start of the gold rushes. With only a few police available to provide protection and the removal of the military from a law enforcement role they were free to operate with little hindrance, although the diggers' justice was swift and decisive whenever they caught one.

There were other factors. An important was the rapid escalation of prices of all commodities on the fields. This meant that storekeepers quickly became wealthy targets for bushrangers (the Gilbert/Hall gang frequently robbed stores). The prices of horses and cattle trebled because of the demand on the fields for meat and transport. Many of the bushrangers of the period started life as stockmen who were involved in widespread cattle and horse duffing and gully raking to meet the demand. It was easy work with easy money and relatively little risk. Most squatters and other landowners duffed cattle as a matter of course at one stage or another and the crime came down to the decision as to how much was taken, rather than the question of whether or not one should steal at all, as decided by law. The general concept was that any man who did not take at least 'clean skins' as a matter of course whenever he came across them, was a fool.

For may young bush workers the transition to full-time bushranging, including encouragement from the publicity attracted by the likes of Melville , Peisley and Gardiner, was almost a natural one

All the goldfields were infested with bushrangers and the New South Wales fields saw much of this activity. However, it was Victoria which bore the greater brunt of this onslaught. This was due to a number of factors, including the closer proximity of the fields to Melbourne and Geelong, the wider area covered by the Victorian fields, the relative lack of roads and development away from the major centres, the smaller police presence and the proximity of Victoria to Tasmania which saw many of the "Vandemonian Banditti" make their way across Bass Strait to continue their life of crime. Violent robberies became a daily event and the papers were soon complaining about these outrages, even in the outer suburbs of Melbourne and along the Melbourne to St. Kilda and Melbourne to Geelong roads.

Suffolk and Farrell

Two of the first Goldfields bushrangers were Owen Suffolk and Christopher Farrell who in May 1851 bailed up and robbed the Portland-Geelong Mail Coach. Suffolk was an ex-Clerk who committed the robbery smartly attired in a "black suit of fashionable cut and black kid gloves." They were quickly captured and imprisoned. Suffolk was released after six years but then copped another sentence for horse theft. While in prison he developed a flair for writing and published several poems and a book based on his own life entitled "Recollections." This became a best seller, although no copies are known to exist today. Owen Suffolk was released in 1866 and returned to England.

Farrell was continuously in trouble both in and out of gaol until 1868 when there is a gap in his records. In 1887 he was arrested for housebreaking and, despite repeated attempts to escape, he died in gaol in 1895.

The Omeo Robbery

One of the worst incidents occurred in 1859 when three bushrangers named George Chamberlain, William Armstrong and George Penny ambushed a party of travellers near Omeo, seriously wounding an escorting trooper and a goldbuyer named Cornelius Green. Green had been the target of their attack. The rest of the party made good their escape and raised the alarm. A police party quickly returned to the scene where they found Green's body badly mutilated by bullets and cuts from a tomahawk. Ironically his packhorse carrying his gold had bolted in the fray, so the three men got nothing. Penny disappeared but Chamberlain and Armstrong were caught, tried and hanged a few weeks later.

The McIvor Escort Robbery

The period is most noted for two events, the McIvor Gold Escort robbery and the depradations of Frank McCallum, alias Captain Melville. The Escort robbery occurred on 28 July 1853. The escort was travelling from McIvor to Kyneton and had reached a spot about 24 kilometres from McIvor where there was a sharp bend in the road. As it rounded the corner it was fired upon from ambush by a part of bushrangers led by George Melville. Other members of the gang included John and Jeremiah Murphy, George Wilson, John Francis and William Atkinson. Others claimed to have been involved were Joe Grey, Bob Harding, Ned McEvoy and George Elson. The driver of the cart, Thomas Flookes and three of the escorting troopers were badly wounded and Flookes subsequently died of his wounds. The troopers tried to fight back, but, faced by an unseen opposition which was better armed, they were forced to withdraw. The gang escaped with five thousand pounds in gold and about seven hundred pounds in banknotes. Only about half was ever recovered.

A final bushranger worthy of examination in this section is William Derrincourt, alias William Day. Day was born in London in 1819 and, after receiving some schooling, was apprenticed to a gunsmith. He eventually quarrelled with his master and ran away. He was captured shortly afterwards and sentenced to a month in gaol. After his release he was returned to his indentures but continued getting into trouble. He finally was involved in a murder and sentenced to transportation for ten years.

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