The call of the Australian Bush 1880



1880 Northern Queensland Australia
Travelling through the bush in the Cooktown District

The road is rough - but to my feet
Softer than is the city street;
And then the trees! - how beautiful
She-oak and gum - how fresh and cool!

From The Call of the Bush by Dora Wilcox,

born Mary Theodora Joyce Wilcox (1873-1953) poet and playwright.

A bush home in Australia in 1895

The first settlers endured the inclement climate and the harshness of the bush as they went forth into the forest with the manly determination to reclaim the wilderness and to make themselves a home in its previously unbroken solitudes. To do this, has involved no small amount of courage, of patient endurance, of steadfast hope, of physical strength and of pertinacious toil.  Picturesque Atlas of Australasia: published in 1886.
It's hard to tell from this photo whether it is a fully wooden construction called a bark hut or a wattle and daub home.

The Ballad of Ben Hall's Gang

Come all ye wild colonials And listen to my tale;
A story of bushrangers' deeds I will to you unveil.
'Tis of those gallant heroes, Game fighters one and all;
And we'll sit and sing, Long Live the King,
Dunn,Gilbert, and Ben Hall.

Ben Hall he was a squatter bloke Who owned a thousand head;
A peaceful man he was until Arrested by Sir Fred.
His home burned down, his wife cleared out,
His cattle perished all;
"They'll not take me a second time,'
Says valiant Ben Hall.

John Gilbert was a flash cove, And John O'Meally too;
With Ben and Bourke and Johnny Vane
They all were comrades true.
They rode into Canowindra And gave a public ball.
'Roll up, roll up, and have a spree,'
Says Gilbert and Ben Hall.

They took possession of the town, Including the public-houses,
And treated all the cockatoos And shouted for their spouses.
They danced with all the pretty girls And held a carnival.
'We don't hurt them who don't hurt us,'
Says Gilbert and Ben Hall.

They made a raid on Bathurst, The pace was getting hot;
But Johnny Vane surrendered After Micky Burke was shot,
O'Meally at Goimbla Did like a hero fall;
'The game is getting lively,'
Says John Gilbert and Ben Hall.

Then Gilbert took a holiday, Ben Hall got new recruits;
The Old Man and Dunleavy Shared in the plunder's fruits.
Dunleavy he surrendered And they jagged the Old Man tall -
So Johnny Gilbert came again
To help his mate Ben Hall.

John Dunn he was a jockey bloke, A-riding all the winners,
Until he joined Hall's gang to rob The publicans and sinners;
And many a time the Royal Mail Bailed up at John Dunn's call.
A thousand pounds is on their heads -
Dunn, Gilbert, and Ben Hall.

'Next week we'll visit Goulburn And clean the banks out there;
So if you see the troopers, Just tell them to beware;
Some day to Sydney city We mean to pay a call,
And we'll take the whole damn country,'
Says Dunn, Gilbert, and Ben Hall. 

ANONYMOUS

Bushranger's quote - Matthew Brady

Matthew Brady, the bushranger.

"A bushranger's life is wretched and miserable. There is a constant fear of capture and the least noise in the bush is startling. There is no peace day or night." Matthew Brady Tasmanian bushranger, (1799 - 1826)

Read more about this "gentleman" bushranger.

Benjamin Hall, bushranger - a timeline

Wood carving of Benjamin Hall (1837-1865)

• 9 May 1837 Benjamin Hall  was born at Maitland, New South Wales. His father was also named Benjamin Hall and his mother was Elizabeth Somers.  Both of his parents were ex-convicts. Read more about his early life.
• became a stockman. 
• 29 February 1856  married Bridget Walsh.
• 7 August 1859 their son Henry was born.
• July 1856 detained for his share in the Eugowra gold robbery.  
• 1860 leased a run, Sandy Creek, near Wheogo with John Macguire. 
• April 1862 arrested for armed robbery with Frank Gardiner but was acquitted. 
• 15 June 1862 robbed the gold escort coach at Eugowra Rocks with 7 others including Frank Gardiner, John Gilbert and John O'Meally. It was the biggest gold robbery in Australian history.
• 14 March 1863 Hall's home was burnt down. 
• Hall joined  became leader of the gang of bushrangers when Frank Gardiner left for Queensland.
• 12 October 1863 held the entire town of Canowindra for ransom for 3 days.
• October 1863 daring raid on the town of Bathurst.
• 24 October, 1863  raid on Henry Keightley's homestead at Dunn's Plains.
• 1864 conducted robberies on the Sydney-Melbourne Road south of Goulburn
• 15 November 1864  robbed sixty travellers near Jugiong
• May, 1865 Hall and his companions were declared outlaws 
• £1000 on his head
• Hall decides to quit bushranging
• 5 May, 1865 he was ambushed and shot by the police near Goobang Creek in New South Wales
• 7 May 1865 buried at Forbes Cemetery

SOURCES:

Sydney Mail, Newspaper - 30 July, 20 Aug 1864 and 20 May 1865
Australian Stories by the Australian Government
Eugowra Historical Museum and Bushranger Centre

Mystery of Dan Kelly

Wood engraving published in The illustrated Australian news. November 28, 1878.

Dan Kelly, younger brother of Ned Kelly and one of the Kelly gang, is said to have died in the Glenrowan Inn fire of June 28,1880 as a 19-year-old. But when a man, who lived his life under the assumed name of James Ryan, walked into the Brisbane offices of the Sunday Truth in 1933 claiming to be the real life Dan Kelly, it unleashed questions that have remained unanswered to this day. Read the full story at The Queensland Times.

Read the Demise of the Kelly Gang

Family group in front of rough bush dwelling

1870's

Linked to Oh My Heartsie Reviews, Twinkle in the Eye, Today in History...on your site

Goldmining @ 1869

Queensland, Australia.

This photograph was taken by Richard Daintree, geologist and photographer, who was born in 1832 in  England. In 1852 he joined the gold rush to Victoria, Australia.  Unsuccessful as a prospector he became assistant geologist in the Victorian Geological Survey until 1856. He rejoined the Geological Survey in 1859  pioneering the use of photography in field-work. In 1864 he became a resident partner with William Hann in pastoral properties in the Burdekin country of North Queensland. There he was able to indulge his passions for both photography and prospecting. When the pastoral boom collapsed he used his knowledge to open up goldfields at Cape River (1867), Gilbert (1869) and Etheridge in 1869-70. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

GOLD TIMELINE IN AUSTRALIA

1851 - Edward Hargraves discovers gold in Bathurst, NSW and the 'Gold Rush' begins.1851 - Gold was discovered in Bendigo, Victoria. 

1859 - Queensland made a colony.

1865 - Cape River goldfield in North Queensland discovered by Richard Daintree.

1869 - Convicts no longer sent to Australia.

1893 - Gold discovered in Western Australia.

The discovery of gold in Australia saw a rise in bushranging activity. This was because:

• gold was being transported from the gold fields to the cities leaving the transportation open to highway robbery

• gold nuggets were small for their worth and relatively easy to sell once stolen and unlike jewellery or money could not easily be identified.

1873 photo of Bank of NSW in Warwick

Bush craft

I have neither friend nor loved one
To welcome me, nor home;
And lonely through the wide world
As stranger I must roam;
I know not where tomorrow
To procure my daily bread,
And tonight the waving branches
Must canopy my head.

FROM 'I FEEL THAT I AM FREE  by the convict and bushranger Owen Suffolk

The Australian bushrangers needed to survive in the rough terrain of the natural environment and move around in it frequently. They used the bush as a refuge to hide from authorities.  They would have benefited greatly by knowledge and use of survival skills which came to be called bush craft. The Oxford English Dictionary definition of bush craft is "skill in matters pertaining to life in the bush".
The skills of bush craft include fire making, tracking, hunting, fishing, shelter building, foraging for food and wood carving. These are the kinds of skills well known to our ancient ancestors who lived on the land in all parts of the world. Many bush craft skills are still practiced today, as an everyday skill, amongst aboriginal and native peoples around the world.  
                                                                                                                                                                

Miniature bow drill kit for lighting a fire.

Bushranger's Ballad: Van Dieman's land

This ballad is about poachers deported to Van Diemen's Land now called Tasmania.  The authour of this sad ditty is not known.

Come all you gallant poachers,
That ramble void of care,
That walk out on a moonlight night
With your dog, your gun and snare.
The harmless hare and pheasant
You have at your command,
Not thinkin' of your last career
Upon Van Dieman's land.

Twas poor Jock Brown frae Glesca,
Will Guthrie and Munro,
We were four daring poachers,
The country well did know;
By the keepers of the land, my boys,
One night we were trepanned,
And for fourteen years transported
Unto Van Dieman's land.

Read the rest of the Ballad

Image source

The early streets of Rocklea, Brisbane

Horses and riders outside the Crown Hotel, Rocklea, Queensland in 1899.
John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

 The town of Rocklea is nine klms south of central Brisbane. It was named after a watercourse - the Rocky Water Holes - where there was good farming land. The Crown Hotel was liscenced in 1862 to Edward Barnacle, the name above the entrance.
This way of placing the liscencees name prominently can also be seen in the 1880 photo of The Glenrowan Inn, site of the Kelly Gang shoot out in that year.