History research - Early Australian bushrangers. English writing -my region and favourite authors.

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Early Australian bushrangers / Австралийские преступники в раннюю эпоху

McFarlane & Erskine, Gold escort attacked by bushrangers, 187-, print: lithograph. Image courtesy of the National Library of Australia: nla.pic-an8420450.

Bushranging - living off the land and being supported by or stealing from free settlers - was either chosen as a preferred way of life by escaped convicts or was a result of the lack of supplies in the early settlements. Australia's bushranging period spanned nearly 100 years, from the first convict bushrangers active from 1790 to the 1860s, through the outlawed bushrangers of the 1860s and 1870s who were able to be shot on sight, to the shooting of the Kelly Gang in 1880.

While many bushrangers had populist reputations for being 'Robin Hood' figures; some bushrangers were brutal and others harassed the gold escorts and diggers returning from the goldfields. The popularity of bushrangers and their ethos of 'fight before surrender' was commemorated in bush songs and folklore.

Escaped convicts

Bushranging began soon after the British colonisation of Australia. The bush surrounding the settlement was unexplored, but this did not deter the desperate convicts from escaping - happy in their aim to make their way to Batavia (now the city of Jakarta on the island of Java, Indonesia ) or China. While some perished, others joined up with Indigenous people and others took to bushranging.

In the early days of Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania) the settlement was faced with starvation due to the failure of supply ships to arrive. In 1805, authorities released several convicts, gave them arms and sent them into the bush to survive from hunting. Many learnt to survive and joined others. In the early days, a man could also choose to give himself in, receive the mandatory 50 lashes and be back in the system to serve the rest of his time. Later, bushrangers usually suffered the death penalty after capture.

The first bushrangers, 1790s - 1820s

The first bushranger was John Caesar (alias Black Caesar), a former West Indian Negro slave and petty thief. Black Caesar escaped into the bush in 1790 with a musket where he later joined five or six other escaped convicts. This was the first of many attempts by Black Caesar, who survived by hunting and fishing in the bush as well as receiving food and musket shot provided by sympathetic settlers. Black Caesar's repeated escapes caused Governor George Hunter to offer a reward of five gallons of rum, which eventually resulted in him being captured and shot.

Convicts who bolted to the bush were also often helped by settlers or farmers sympathetic to their plight. Among the farmers were many ex-convicts who had served their terms and been granted a ticket-of-leave.

Wrongful arrests and improper practices by local police also played a part in driving men to bushranging. It could be said that these men had nothing at all to lose, even if being outlawed meant living in constant fear and desperation.

A bushranger known as Gypsey said 'The chances are that I must be taken at last, and that if I do not perish miserably in the bush I shall be betrayed, and shot or hanged.' Many said they were glad at last when it was all over, and they were captured and sent to the gallows.1

Gypsey and Musquito - Van Dieman's Land, 1820s - 1850s

Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-1880), Troopers after bushrangers, 1871, watercolour. Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria: H5263.

Gypsey and Musquito were two of the more unusual bushrangers - but of whom there are reliable first-hand accounts published in the 1840s.

Musquito was transported to Van Dieman's land in 1823 from his country, Port Jackson. He later worked as a black tracker for the police and was used to track down Michael Howe, known as 'the worst and the last' of the bushrangers. However, Musquito was dismissed by the police without reward and given no police protection.

Howe had led a raid on an Aboriginal camp at Oyster Bay to steal women (despite having an Aboriginal wife, Black Mary, who assisted him on many of his escapades). When the Aboriginal men naturally resisted at the camp, Howe shot them. This act led to attacks of retribution by the Oyster Bay men on associated white settlers. Musquito then joined up with the Oyster Bay tribesmen, described as ‘a mob of about thirty natives’. Musquito and two other bushrangers, Black Jack and Black Tom, led this group.

Musquito made a friend of another bushranger, known as Gypsey, who also ended up ‘running with’ the Oyster Bay tribesmen. Gypsey's real name was George Shirley, the son of a wealthy English family. Distressed at the death of his bride giving birth to their daughter, Shirley had taken to bushranging.

When Gypsey was captured and killed after he had opened fire on some troops, Musquito vowed to avenge his death. Musquito marked Gypsey's grave with a rough-hewn stone carved with the words 'Gypsey My Friend'. Musquito continued to deliver money to Gypsey’s daughter Georgina until Musquito was captured in 1824 by another local Aborigine. When the death sentence was passed, Musquito replied: ‘Hanging no bloody good for blackfellow …. Very good for whitefellow, he used to it’. Musquito was hanged in Hobart in 1825 alongside Black Jack and Black Tom.

Martin Cash - 'The only bushranger to die in his own bed', 1820 - 1840s

J W Beattie (1859-1930), Portrait of Martin Cash, 18--, photograph: b&w. Image courtesy of the National Library of Australia: nla.pic-vn3290545.

Martin Cash was convicted in county Cork, in 1820, for jealously firing at a suitor to his young mistress. Soon after arriving in Botany Bay in 1828, he was working as a farmhand, innocently branding cattle, when he was told that the cattle were stolen. Cash immediately left for Van Dieman's Land with his partner Bessie Clifford. Twelve months later, after two false accusations which were dismissed in court, he was convicted for beating the arresting officer and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.

After two unsuccessful attempts at escape which added years to his sentence, Cash finally escaped and formed one of the marauding gangs in Van Dieman's Land - committing 'hold-ups, shootings, robberies, fights and brawls'. Eventually, after they falsely arrested Bessie, he was lured into Hobart town where he was captured.

Bushranger to constable, 1850s - 1878

Sent to Norfolk Island, Cash became a model prisoner and served only 10 years of his life sentence before he was released. While on Norfolk Island, he married Mary Bennett with whom he returned to Tasmania. Norfolk Island was closed down and its prisoners transferred to Tasmania. Cash was made a constable in July 1854, and on 19 September was granted his ticket-of-leave.

Back in Tasmania, he was appointed as overseer of the gardeners in the Government Domain and built a house on 160 acres of land at Glenorchy. Unfortunately, their only son Martin, born in 1855, died of rheumatic fever in 1871. Cash was said to have died of a broken heart in 1878 in his own bed.

'Bold' Jack Donohoe 'The last of the convict outlaws', 1825 - 1830s

One of the most famous bushrangers was 'Bold' Jack Donohoe, known as the 'Wild Colonial Boy'.

Soon after being transported to Botany Bay from Dublin in 1825, Jack Donohoe took up with two other Irish convicts, robbing bullock drays on the Windsor Road, west of Sydney. Donohoe escaped his hanging after he broke free from the court. Donohoe and a new gang of Irish and English escaped convicts ranged across the Liverpool, Parramatta and Windsor districts, eventually extending as far as Bathurst in the west, Yass to the south and the Hunter River to the north.

Donohoe's gang robbed in the 'Robin Hood' style, taking from the rich and fencing their booty through the poor settlers in the district. Once, upon recognising the explorer Charles Sturt, when robbing his farmhouse, they returned all his goods.

Donohoe endeared himself to ex-convicts and sympathetic settlers. Newspaper reports between 1827 and 1830 noted Donohoe and his gang as 'remarkably clean' bushmen, dressed in a raffish style. 'Bold' Jack was described as fitted out in 'black hat, superfine blue cloth coatlined with silk... plaited shirt... laced boots'.

When he was eventually shot and captured on 1 September 1830, Donohoe was noted as being 'five feet four in height, brown freckled complexion, flaxen hair and blue eyes'. On seeing the troopers, Donohoe was reported to have thrown his hat in the air and said 'Come on... we're ready'.

The Wild Colonial Boy

Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-1880), Bushranger's flight, 1856, print: lithograph. Image courtesy of the National Library of Australia: nla.pic-an7150085.

'Bold' Jack Donohoe had several ballads penned to commemorate his exploits in NSW, and even several versions of the most famous bushranging ballad of them all - The Wild Colonial Boy. This song became Australia's first unofficial anthem and the anthem of the 19th century. This song was sung over and over again by generations of Australians until it was eventually banned for its 'seditious sentiment'. However, it would not die, and the name was changed to Jack Doolan, or Jim Doolan or John Dowling, and then the lyrics changed so that the real events were hardly recognised - becoming part of Australian folklore. Eventually the authorities had to give up in banning it being sung.

The ethos of the song is captured in the line: 'I'll fight but not surrender', cried the Wild Colonial Boy.

It is known that the Wild Colonial Boy was sung heartily in the Glenrowan Hotel, the night before Ned Kelly was captured in 1880 and later by striking shearers in Queensland during the strikes of the 1890s.

The gold diggings and Black Douglas, 1850s - 1860s

George Lacy (1816-1878), Capture of bushrangers at night by gold police, c. 1852, watercolour. Image courtesy of the National Library of Australia: nla.pic-an3103554.

After gold was discovered in 1851, first in Bathurst, NSW and then in the central Highlands of Victoria, bushrangers would hold up travellers and ask whether they were 'going up' or 'coming down'. It was common on the Bendigo and Ballarat for bushrangers to take into the bush anyone who was 'coming down', tie them to a tree and remove their gold receipts and cheques. The bushrangers then continued on down to Melbourne to cash the cheques and take possession of the gold.

In 1852, black trackers were brought in as native troops to tackle this practice of bushranging, as well as policing the gold diggings and escorting gold to Melbourne. Although they were very effective and popular they were disbanded in 1853.

Black Douglas was a notorious 'Mulatto Indian' who ran a bushranging operation between Melbourne and Bendigo. Hundreds of diggers made their way up this road daily. One traveller, recorded seeing 'sixteen poor fellows fastened to a log' by that 'notorious robber Black Douglas'. 2

Black Douglas's headquarters were three miles from the Alma goldfield near Maryborough, and his gang's method was to rob the diggers' empty tents during the day and the shops at night. Black Douglas and his gang were captured when the diggers, fed up with the thieving, surrounded their tents and burnt them to the ground. Douglas was overpowered only after he was wounded. He was carted to Maryborough with an escort of more than 200 miners.3

'Mad Dan' Morgan, 1855 - 1865

Frederick Grosse (1828-1894), Morgan at the Round Hill Station, c. 1864, print: wood engraving. Image courtesy of the National Library of Australia: nla.pic-an8420460.

Daniel Morgan brought discredit to the popular 'currency heroes' by his mixture of violence, abuse and seemingly meaningless murders. Morgan claimed his innocence at his first conviction in 1854, at the diggings near Castlemaine, which he said was 'framed' by a squatter. During his time at Pentridge Prison, he developed a violent dislike for police. Upon his release, he began a campaign against society at large and the police in particular.

Morgan once took issue with an overseer's wife when the man was away on business, demanding money from her as he forced her against a blazing fire until she suffered severe burns to her legs. Morgan also tried to burn squatter Isaac Vincent by setting fire to his woolshed after he had tied Vincent to a nearby fence. After Morgan bailed up coaches, he would stampede the horses - sending them and their drivers to destruction.

Eventually he was shot and captured in 1865 after being outwitted by a nursemaid and station hand at Peelhelba Station near Wangaratta, owned by the McPhersons.

Fight before surrender

Bushranging was said to be brought under control by the Felons Apprehension Act 1865 (NSW), which allowed anyone to shoot bushrangers without need of arrest and trial, introduced to curb the activities of Ben Hall and his gang in 1865.

Bushranging was said to have ended with the shooting of the Kelly Gang in 1880. The verses of the Wild Colonial Boy reflect the popularist reputations of the bushrangers and their ethos of 'fight before surrender'.

So come away me hearties
We'll roam the mountains high
Together we will plunder
And together we will die.
We'll scour along the valleys
And we'll gallop o'er the plains
And scorn to live in slavery,
Bound down by iron chains.
(
The Wild Colonial Boy)

bush-ranger  сущ.; австрал. беглый преступник, скрывающийся в зарослях и живущий грабежом

The Dreaming of Australian Indigenous people / Сновидство австралийских аборигенов

Aboriginal dancers telling Dreamtime stories at the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony. Image source unknown.

Warning. This article may contain the names and images of Aboriginal and Islander people now deceased. It also contains links to sites that may use images of Aboriginal and Islander people now deceased.

The Dreaming for Australian Indigenous people (sometimes referred to as the Dreamtime or Dreamtimes) is when the Ancestral Beings moved across the land and created life and significant geographic features.

The Dreaming, or 'Tjukurrpa', also means to 'see and understand the law' as it is translated from the Arrernte language (Frank Gillen with Baldwin Spencer, translating an Arrernte word Altyerrenge).

Dreaming stories pass on important knowledge, cultural values and belief systems to later generations. Through song, dance, painting and storytelling which express the dreaming stories, Aborigines have maintained a link with the Dreaming from ancient times to today, creating a rich cultural heritage.

Aborigines have the longest continuous cultural history of any group of people on Earth. Estimates date this history between 50,000 and 65,000 years. Before European settlement of Australia, there were around 600 different Aboriginal nations, based on language groups.

The relationships between land, animals and people

In most stories of the Dreaming, the Ancestor Spirits came to the earth in human form and as they moved through the land, they created the animals, plants, rocks and other forms of the land that we know today. They also created the relationships between groups and individuals to the land, the animals and other people.

Lily Karedada, Ponnai Wandjina, 2000, screenprint. Image courtesy of Lily Karedada and the Australian Art Print Network.

Once the ancestor spirits had created the world, they changed into trees, the stars, rocks, watering holes or other objects. These are the sacred places of Aboriginal culture and have special properties. Because the ancestors did not disappear at the end of the Dreaming, but remained in these sacred sites, the Dreaming is never-ending, linking the past and the present, the people and the land.

Our story is in the land ... it is written in those sacred places ... My children will look after those places, That's the law.
Bill Neidjie, Kakadu elder

The Creation or Dreaming stories, which describe the travels of the spiritual ancestors, are integral to Aboriginal spirituality. In many areas there are separate spheres of men's and women's stories. Knowledge of the law and of the Dreaming stories is acquired progressively as people proceed through life. Ceremonies, such as initiation ceremonies, are avenues for the passing on of knowledge.

Traditional knowledge, law and religion relies heavily on the Dreaming stories with its rich explanations of land formations, animal behaviour and plant remedies.

Responsibilities

The protocols for social behaviour and consequences, including punishments and disciplines learnt, are also evident in Dreaming stories. 'Virtue in Aboriginal religion lies in the obligation to follow ancestral precedent', which involves keeping the Dreaming stories alive. This takes the forms of painting, song, dancing or ceremony - all of which are therefore necessarily inextricably linked. This is part of a living tradition based on ritual practices. Traditions and practices also merge with economic and ecological responsibilities for 'looking after country'. Looking after country means to continue to express these ritual forms of the Dreaming. Clan groups have the right to use the land regarded as their 'territory' and any of its products, based on their duties to tend the land through the performance of ceremonies.

Ceremonies

The travels and adventures of the ancestral heroes are sometimes told in a sequence of ceremonies, performed by individual clan groups across a large geographic area. For example, the story of the Wagilag Sisters is told by clan groups from across most of Arnhem Land. Individual clan groups have knowledge of the different stories which make up this songline. Ceremonies linked with the initiation of young boys will be performed in sequence from one part of Arnhem Land to the next, following the travels of the Wagilag Sisters.

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Creation stories

An example of a Dreaming story is that of the fertility mother of the Gagudju people of Northern Australia:

Life started when a creator woman called Warramurrungundjui came out of the sea and gave birth to the first people and gave them the languages. She carried with her a digging stick and a dilly bag holding yams, waterlilies and other important plants. She planted the food and created waterholes with her digging stick on the ground. Other creator beings appeared...After completing her creative act, Warramurrungundj turned herself into a rock.
S. Breeden and B. Wright,
Kakadu, Looking ...

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