HISTORY OF ...

THE AUSTRALIAN

BUSHRANGERS..

BY

GEORGE E. BOXALL

Author of "The Anglo-Saxon,
a Study in Evolution," etc., etc.

LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN
ADELPHI TERRACE, MCMVIII

FIRST EDITION, September, 1899.
SECOND EDITION, May, 1902.
THIRD EDITION, May, 1908.

PREFACE.

In this story of the bushrangers I do not pretend to have included thenames of all those who have at various times been called bushrangersin Australia. That, as will be seen from what I have said in theearlier chapters, would be not merely impossible but useless. Ibelieve, however, that I have collected some particulars about allthose who succeeded in winning even a local notoriety, and I have alsoendeavoured to supply such personal characteristics of the leadersin the movement as may throw some light on the causes which inducedthem to "take to the bush." My principal object, however, has been tomake the picture as complete as possible, so that the magnitude ofthe social evil which the Australians set themselves to cure may berealised; and it is generally believed in Australia that this cure hasbeen so complete that bushranging will never again become epidemic.

The story is a terrible one. Some of the incidents related are nodoubt revolting, but it is necessary that even these should be toldto show how civilised man may be degraded by unjust and oppressivelaws. We are all creatures of the educational influences to which weare subjected in our youth, and therefore it is unfair to blame theearlier bushrangers; because they were the products of the civilisationof their day, and were not themselves responsible. But sensational asthe story is, its tendency is rather to depress than to exhilaratethe reader, for the story is a sad one, in that it shows a deplorablewaste of what under happier conditions might have been useful lives.As a rule I have adhered very closely to the newspaper reports ofthe time, but to make the story (which naturally tends to be scrappyand disconnected) as homogeneous and continuous as possible, I havefollowed one gang to the close of its career, and then returned to takeup the history of another gang. I have paid special attention to thegeography of the country, and the reader who possesses a fairly goodmap of each of the colonies should have no difficulty in following themovements of each of the gangs, and may thus obtain an idea of theextent of the area over which it operated.

Hitherto the histories of Australia have passed very lightly overthe bushrangers, but there can be no doubt that they exercised someinfluence, and not always for evil, for to their influence is due someof the sturdy Republicanism of the modern Australians. The publicationof this story may perhaps assist the future historian in tracing thegrowth of public opinion in Australia, and will therefore not bewithout its use. It is in this hope that I submit it to the public.

G.E.B.

AUTHORITIES QUOTED.

Reports of the Select Committees of the House of Commons onTransportation, Sessions 1837 and 1838: Chapters I.,II., III., ...

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