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Among the last bushrangers was the Kelly gang in Victoria, led by Ned Kelly, Australia's most famous bushranger. After murdering three policemen in a shootout in 1878, the gang was outlawed, and after raiding towns and robbing banks into 1879, earned the distinction of having the largest reward ever placed on the heads of bushrangers.
- The Kelly Gang
- ‘Mad Dog’ Daniel Morgan
- Alexander Pearce
- ‘Gentleman Bushranger’ Martin Cash
- ‘Bold Jack’ John Donohoe
- ‘Black Douglas’ Charles Russell
- Michael Howe
- ‘Captain Thunderbolt’ Frederick Ward
- ‘Brave’ Benjamin Hall
- Frank Gardiner
Seared into the collective psyche of the Australian public is a curious sense of national pride towards the infamous Ned Kelly and his gang of bushranging outlaws, younger brother Dan Kelly and friends Steve Hart and Joe Byrne. In their brief years as outlaws, the Kelly Gangmurdered three police officers (Sergeant Michael Kennedy and Constables Tho...
Some Australian bushrangers made their name from martyrdom, others from pure madness. In the case of ‘Mad Dog’ Daniel Morgan, the source of his infamy was definitely the latter. In June of 1864, Morgan shot a bush worker near Albury, New South Wales. He asked another worker to ride for help, then, suspecting the man would ride to the police instead...
Following through with the theme of madness is the disturbing Alexander Pearce, a convict who escaped the Macquarie Harbour Penal Colony in 1822 with seven others. Desperate, starving and disoriented in the bush for several weeks, three men abandoned the group while the other five began to murder and eat each other. Pearce was the only survivor. He...
From one moral extreme to another, ‘Gentleman Bushranger’ Martin Cash was easily one of Australia’s most considerate criminals. Cash was originally sent to Sydney from Ireland in 1827 for shooting a rival suitor in the buttocks. After serving seven years, he left for Tasmania as a free man only to be charged shortly after with theft and sentenced t...
Another Irish convict-turned-bushranger was ‘Bold Jack’ John Donohoe. He arrived in Sydney from Dublin as an 18-year-old in January 1825 to serve a life sentence on a settler’s farm in Parramatta. Donohoe escaped with two other convicts and together they formed a gang known as ‘The Strippers’ – named after their technique for taking everything from...
The legendary ‘Black Douglas’ Charles Russell was an English-born bushranger who held Melbourne and its surrounding areas to ransom during the 1850s. Russell preyed on those diggers travelling to and from the goldfields between Bendigo and Melbourne. There are several accounts of victims being tied naked to a tree or fallen log with their boots ful...
Former British soldier Michael Howe arrived in Tasmania in October of 1812 to serve a seven-year sentence for highway robbery. He bolted into the bush after a year on a settler’s farm, joining a gang of 29 escaped convicts and army deserters. Howe quickly rose to become joint-leader of the bushranging bandits who ransacked the house of Magistrate A...
Despite dubbing himself with a title more fitting for a comic book hero than an Australian bushranger, ‘Captain Thunderbolt’ Frederick Ward recruited children for armed holdups and shootouts with police. Originally a drover from Paterson River, New South Wales, Ward was charged with horse thievery and sent to Cockatoo Island in August 1856 to serve...
‘Brave’ Benjamin Hall was a skilled stockman from Maitland, New South Wales who was driven to bushranging by a series of unfortunate events. In April 1862, he joined John Gilbert’s gang of bushrangers, who had been raiding Forbes since 1860. Hall quickly rose in their ranks to become an efficient leader, ensuring his men were well armed and well mo...
Frank Gardiner, born in 1830 Scotland and shipped out to Australia as a child with his parents, made an illustrious career out of horse thievery and highway robbery. On 15 June 1862, Gardiner along with Ben Hall, John Gilbert and associates held up a gold escort travelling from Forbes to Bathurst. They stole over £14,000 worth of gold and bank note...
- Irish bushrangers and beyond. The true story of the Irish in Australia would not be complete without a look at Ned Kelly and his gang of bushrangers. Kelly was well-known for his anti-British sentiment, something he shared with the Irish ‘rebels’ transported to the colonies years before.
- The Kelly gang. Australia’s most famous bushranger is Ned Kelly. Kelly’s mother, Ellen, was a free Irish immigrant. His father, ‘Red’, was born in County Tipperary, and transported from there in 1841.
- Installing the Kelly gang armour. The armour of the 4 Kelly gang members was on show for the first time outside of Victoria in the exhibition Not Just Ned.
- Gentleman bushranger Martin Cash. Martin Cash by Thomas Bock. Martin Cash was one of Tasmania’s most notorious and popular bushrangers. Born in County Wexford, Ireland, Cash was convicted in 1827 of housebreaking.
Aug 24, 2023 · YEARS: 5–6, 7–8, 9–10. Bushranging declined in the 1870s and 1880s as Ned Kelly, our most famous bushranger, began his criminal life. At the State Library Victoria, we examine the ...
- ABC Education
Sep 8, 2011 · Patrick and James Kenniff: Australia's last bushrangers. By JOL Admin | 8 September 2011. With the recent discovery of Ned Kelly's bones it is timely to remember the Queensland bushrangers, Patrick and James Kenniff.
Aug 24, 2023 · During the gold rush, bushranging flourished in New South Wales and the newly formed colony of Victoria. In this video we meet some of Australia's most notorious bushrangers, explore bushranger ...
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Patrick Kenniff (28 September 1865 – 13 January 1903) was an Australian bushranger who roamed western Queensland, Australia, with his brother James Kenniff (1869–1940). They were primarily cattle thieves, but the brothers were found guilty of murder and Patrick was hanged in Boggo Road Gaol in 1903.
