John Vane was born at **James Plains, near Carcoar, New South Wales, in 1842. His parents were respectable citizens who had arrived in the colony as **free settlers. He grew to be 6'1" tall, (unusually tall for the period) with hazel eyes and brown hair. He is described as 'a splendid horseman of ruddy complexion with an engaging character'. He received some education and could read, write and 'figure numbers' (that is, do arithmetic).

At the age of 14 he was apprenticed as a blacksmith and also worked as a stockman. Had he continued into his trade he had every opportunity to be successful, blacksmiths being highly sought after. However, he became best mates with a younger boy named Mickey Burke and the two young men became involved in cattle stealing, along with some other young tearaways in the district. According to Vane, on one occasion in 1862 a group of eight of them stole a hundred head of cattle which they sold for five pounds each, a profit to each member of forty pounds, or over a year's wages for a working man - or trooper. Shortly after this incident Vane stole a revolver, caps and ammunition from an hotel in the area and bailed up and robbed a Chinaman. A few days later he and Burke bailed up another hotel. The landlord reported them to the police and a warrant was sworn out for their arrest. Police set out to arrest them and they took to the bush. They had several close encounters with police parties but always managed to escape.

They continued their illegal exploits and Vane, who had known John O'Mealley as a boy, expressed a desire to meet him and John Gilbert. His wish was granted a few months later when he met up with the two bushrangers. They invited him and Burke to throw in with them and Vane agreed. To impress their future partners on 2 August 1863 they stole two racehorses from the stables of Mr. Thomas Icely at Coombing Park Station. During the robbery they were challenged by a groom who fired a warning shot. Burke immediately shot him in the face, although he survived. They then joined up with Gilbert and company. The gang at the time was operating in the southern district, around the Lambing Flat goldfields.

On 24 August 1863, Hall, Gilbert, O'Mealley and, for the first time, Vane and Burke, bailed up several miners near Duffer Gully. On 29 August they bailed up Demondrille Station, near Wallenbeen (near Cootamundra) and ransacked the homestead. Shortly afterwards they were nearly captured by a party of troopers after a gunfight. They escaped but in the process Vane lost his boots and saddle. He determined to recover them the only way he knew, by stealing someone else's.

He and John O'Mealley first went to the hut of a bullock driver and Vane tried on both his pairs of boots. They were too small and O'Mealley suggested they bail up the store on Mr. McKay's Wallendbeen Station which was nearby. As they headed for Wallenbeen they saw a storekeeper named John Barnes riding toward them. Immediately they galloped up to him and his travelling companion. As he rode up O'Mealley pointed his revolver at them and said, 'I know you, you b######.' Vane presented his revolver and said 'Bail up, you b######s.' O'Mealley then ordered Barnes to hand over his horse, threatening to shoot him if he didn't comply. Instead Barnes galloped away, followed by O'Mealley who was firing at him. His companion attempted to follow but Vane pointed his revolver at his face and ordered him to dismount, saying, 'If you move an inch I'll do the same to you.'

Vane now took both horses and started to walk toward Wallendbeen, forcing the other man to go with him. As they walked he said, 'For being quiet, I'll give you your horse, saddle and bridle directly.' At this point more shots were heard and O'Mealley was heard to yell, 'Will you stop now, you b######?' When they arrived at Wallendbeen a few minutes later they found that O'Mealley had shot and seriously wounded Mr. Barnes. He died shortly afterwards. Callously, O'Mealley refused any aid for Barnes, insisting that the men at the station open the store so that Vane could get new boots and a saddle which he did.

On 19 September they bailed up the Cowra to Bathurst Mail Coach, on 24 September they robbed a store at Caloola, next day it was Loudon's Grubbengong Station which received their unwelcome attentions. They carried out raids into Canowindra and Bathurst and caused great alarm across the Southern and Western Districts. A reward of five hundred pounds was posted for the arrest of each member.

For some of them time was running out. On 24 October 1863 the gang raided the station of Gold Commissioner Henry Keightley. Keightley and a guest named Dr. Pechey fought back and during the exchange of fire Mickey Burke was shot and mortally wounded. It has always been assumed that it was Mr. Keightley who killed him, however, recent re-examination of the scene (as recorded in the subsequent Coronial Inquest) suggests that in fact it may have been Ben Hall who shot him by accident.

When he found that Burke was dead Vane went into an uncontrollable rage. He bashed Dr. Pechey to the ground with his revolver (mistaking him for Keightley) and threatened to execute Keightley on the spot. However, after pleas from Mrs. Keightley and a hurried consultation the gang agreed Keightley's life would be spared if she drove to Bathurst (in the pitch black night) and returned by sunrise with five hundred pounds. This she did and Keightley was spared.

Mickey Burke's death played on Vane's mind and, after an argument and fist-fight with Gilbert, he left the gang and wandered around the bush on his own. He began to see a priest named Tim McCarthy who persuaded him to surrender to the authorities. This he did at Bathurst on 19 November 1863.

John Vane was tried in April 1864 and sentenced to 15 years hard labour for Robbery Under Arms. He was released on 23 February 1870. After his release he worked for a time as a Stonemason and worked on St. Marys Cathedral in Sydney for a time before returning to the Bathurst area. Here he turned back to his old ways. On 19 March 1875 he received three months hard labour at Carcoar for stealing and on 06 July 1880 he received five years for sheep stealing. He was later transferred to Berrima Prison.

After his release in the 1890s he was working on a property as a stationhand. His family described him as a bad-tempered old man. During this time he also wrote his account of his days as a bushranger which was published in the newspapers.

John Vane died on 30 January 1906 at Cowra Hospital and is buried in an unmarked grave in Woodstock Cemetery. He could count himself fortunate. He lived to be an old man, even if possibly not a particularly nice one. His former comrades (Hall, Gilbert, Burke and O'Mealley) all were shot before they turned thirty.

This article © Andrew Stackpool, 1998.

** August 2005 The following interesting biographical information on Vane was sent to me by Sandi Megson who informs me she is a direct descendent of John Vane:

'John Vane was born at JERRY plains, not James.... Secondly, his parents were born here...they didn't arrive as free  settlers....He was actually descended from two convicts, his grandfather Stephen Waine (Vane) arrived in 1803 onboard HMS  Glatton, and his grandmother Elizabeth Mandeville arrived in 1809  onboard the Aeolus.