BUSHRANGERS

OF

DOONSIDE, BUNGARRIBEE, EASTERN CREEK,

ROOTY HILL, PROSPECT, SEVEN HILLS

AND BLACKTOWN

2020 BLACKTOWN MAYORAL HISTORY PRIZE ENTRY

CAROL HORNE

BAILED UP Painting by Tom Roberts

1

BUSHRANGERS OF DOONSIDE, BUNGARRIBEE, EASTERN CREEK, ROOTY HILL,

PROSPECT, SEVEN HILLS AND BLACKTOWN

Nearly every book that has been written about Australian history contains some reference to

bushrangers. Among the most well-known are Ned Kelly, Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner, Captain Starlight,

Thunderbolt (a native of the nearby Hawkesbury) and Mad Dog Morgan. Singly or in company,

bushrangers committed many atrocities on unsuspecting travellers and settlers. They were horse

thieves, cattleduffers, burglars, kidnappers and murderers.1

Not so well known is the fact that during the 1800s, many bushrangers carried out their nefarious

activities around our district. More specifically, they raided, robbed and terrorised the people of

Doonside, Bungarribee, Eastern Creek, Rooty Hill, Prospect, Seven Hills and Blacktown.

The aim of this project was to identify the bushrangers who committed heinous crimes within these

localities and then reconstruct the stories and legends of their often brutal and cold-blooded exploits.

With these objectives in mind, minor details from multiple newspaper articles are woven

chronologically into each scenario. Some historical background has been added to set the scene and

add local colour. As a result, references have therefore been incorporated into one reference to enhance

the flow of the text and it is recorded at the end of each separate story. References are listed in their

entirety at the end of the document.

Our bushrangers, many of whom are unidentified, continued their activities in other districts and

there we must follow – or until they meet their violent ends.

Now, sit back and let your imagination take you back to those hazardous days of old.

In the early years of the colony of NSW, bushranging activities were generally confined to the

countryside between Sydney and Emu Plains. Many of those who took on this way of life were convict

escapees from the chain gangs working around the areas of Parramatta, Richmond, Windsor and

Penrith.2 During the convict period and beyond, the number of constables could not adequately police

the settled areas nor deal with the ever-growing horde of lawless fugitives.3

Bushrangers were so common in our district that a low hill on Wallgrove Road near the convict-

built Horsley homestead (the modern suburb is known as Horsley Park) owned in the 1830s by Captain

George Edward Nicholas Weston and his wife Blanche, was once called “Bushrangers Hill”.4

Our bushrangers were mostly convict fugitives from the encampments built along the Western

Road or from the chain gangs who worked on the roads. Others were escapees from the convict

stockade at “Toon Gabbie” which had been established by Governor Arthur Phillip within three years

of the First Fleet landing its human cargo at Botany Bay.

“Work them or kill them” was the motto at Toongabbie. In

just one six-month period, over eight hundred convicts died due to

the barbaric living and working conditions. Dingoes came at night

to gnaw on their dead bodies.

Convicts at Toongabbie had to make their own shelters out of

scavenged material. They either constructed roads, or cut and drew

timber by hand for the building works at Parramatta. This back-

breaking work was carried out on a daily ration of just five ounces

of flour. It was not uncommon for several to die at work each day through lack of nourishment. Even

the Governor’s dog was kept on full rations.

Most of the absconders were driven to petty crime by hunger and the need to survive. They

frequently hid in dense scrub along the banks of Bungarribee Creek, Eastern Creek, Blacktown Creek,

Toongabbie Creek and South Creek. The “sticking-up” of wagons, coaches, foot passengers and settlers

was a regular occurrence which caused great fear and anxiety amongst the people who lived in the small

settlements. Many travellers carried pistols to defend themselves or banded together for mutual

protection. It was a bit like the Wild West of the USA in the early colonial days of NSW.5

After bushrangers were captured, they were generally taken to Parramatta where they were tried

for their crimes. If they were found Guilty, they were hanged at Toongabbie, either singly or, more

often than not, in groups of up to twelve at a time. When this happened, each condemned man had to

dig his own grave, and then the others, who were waiting their turn for the hangman, would roll him in.

The Warder took care of the last man’s body. If a bushranger’s crime was less severe, or if he stood

before a Magistrate who was a more lenient, he might only be sentenced to receive two hundred lashes.6

CONVICT WORK GANG

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So who were the bushrangers who prowled around our district in search of their unwary victims?

One of our earliest bushrangers was John Crawley (alias Murphy) who was active in 1806 during

William Bligh’s term as Governor. Crawley’s crimes included killing a calf at the Toongabbie

Government stockyards, stealing a lamb and two goats from Leadbeater’s farm at Toongabbie, a sheep

from Reverend Samuel Marsden at Prospect, fowls from Parramatta, sheep and two pigs from explorer

Gregory Blaxland’s farm at St Marys, geese from the farms of Major Johnston and Mr Laycock (both

military participants in the Battle of Vinegar Hill in 1804) and clothing from a house at Seven Hills.

Crawley was very nearly captured when a constable unexpectedly met him between Parramatta

and Toongabbie. He challenged Crawley who replied that he himself was a constable from the

Hawkesbury. The constable recognised the wanted man who produced a cutlass and escaped from the

unarmed constable. The Chief Constable at Parramatta was informed and dispatched troopers in pursuit

of the lawless Crawley but he had vanished.

Crawley was eventually captured and sentenced to death. As he waited at the gallows, he contritely

acknowledged his offences. He was an illiterate man and it was believed that the total neglect of his

juvenile morals and education had contributed to “the unrelaxed depravity of his riper years”.7

Also in 1806, three bushrangers sprang out from a hiding place in a stone quarry on the Western

Road (today’s Great Western Highway) to bail up a gig (a light, two-wheeled cart pulled by one horse)

driven by Church of England Reverend Henry John Fulton. Instead of bringing his vehicle to a complete

stop as the ruffians demanded, Reverend Fulton, with his frightened passenger seated beside him,

galloped off at maximum speed, the bushrangers firing repeatedly in their direction. It was fortunate

that both these gentlemen escaped injury as the back of the parson’s gig was riddled with bullet holes!

Reverend Fulton, an ex-convict himself, was implicated in the Irish rebellion of 1798 and convicted of

seditious practices. He was transported to NSW for life but his “genteel” nature so impressed the ship’s

captain that he was conditionally pardoned when he arrived at Sydney Cove in 1800, and appointed to

minister to the convicts on Norfolk Island. Six years later, in 1806, he replaced Reverend Samuel

Marsden (on leave) as chaplain of the Sydney and Parramatta garrisons. Reverend Fulton was the first

ordained minister in the Penrith and Castlereagh areas. He died in 1840.8

Around that same period, the main objective of a gang of five outlaws “infesting” the grazing

farms between Prospect and Seven Hills were John MacArthur’s flock of sheep. His shepherds,

Griffiths and Donnelly, after discovering the theft of the sheep and the loss

of a quantity of provisions, began watching their flocks by night. Despite the

fact that Donnelly was deaf, Griffiths posted him as first look-out. During

Donnelly’s watch, he wandered off into the bush for a short spell. Griffiths,

assuming that Donnelly was a bushranger returning for more sheep, fired and

killed the poor Donnelly. Macarthur’s stockmen, assisted by native trackers,

captured the bushrangers at Cabramatta sometime later.9

In 1818, a gang of bushrangers assaulted one unfortunate woman near the Western Road Toll

Gate, its location then described as near the Government Farm at Rooty Hill, ten miles (16 kms) from

Parramatta and two miles (3 kms) from Mount Druitt. Another bushranging incident occurred at Rooty

Hill in 1824 when a cart belonging to Mr Blackett, Superintendent at the Government Farm, was

stopped very close to his residence by a gang of bushrangers. The carter was sorely beaten by these

felons who robbed the cart of all its contents. The culprits quickly melted into the bush and were never

found. In February 1826, a gang of bushrangers stole a number of calves from D’Arcy Wentworth

whose estate once spread across modern Toongabbie and Wentworthville. Not long after this incident,

four bushrangers who had committed daring robberies in that neighbourhood were apprehended at

Rooty Hill. 10 Whether these crooks were members of the same gang is open to speculation.

No one was exempt from bushranger attack. Convicts too were prime targets of the “Knights of

the Road” (chivalry was not one of their virtues). The reason for this was that convicts were required

to carry a distinct certificate which showed their current status of freedom, and this document was

valuable to the bushrangers so they could easily change their identity. Convicts (both male and female) were granted a Ticket of Leave on completion of their sentence,

or sometimes earlier for good behaviour. It showed their free status and allowed them to work for

themselves provided they remained in a specified area, reported regularly to local authorities and

attended divine worship every Sunday. They were not permitted to leave the colony. The actual Ticket

of Leave had to be carried by them at all times.

ABORIGINAL TRACKERS

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The Ticket of Leave shown here

belonged to William Anson and is dated 16

May 1828. Three years later, in 1831, he

was granted thirty acres of land near St

Bartholomew’s Church at Prospect. In

1836, Anson was charged with assault and

convicted. As a result, his Ticket of Leave

was cancelled. This is indicated by the

mark of the cross through the wording.

A convict who had completed his

sentence was granted a Certificate of

Freedom. This meant he was free to travel

anywhere and could return to the United

Kingdom − if he could afford it!

A Conditional Pardon was granted to

a “lifer” (someone who had been sentenced

to life imprisonment). It allowed freedom

of the colony but prohibited a return to the

UK.

An Absolute Pardon declared a

convict’s sentence complete and restored

all his legal rights equal to those of a free

citizen. He had the freedom of the colony

and could return to the UK if he wished.

If an individual (man or woman) could not produce one of these documents (Ticket of Leave,

Conditional or Absolute Pardon) at the time of muster (an earlier version of today’s census), he once

again became a Prisoner of the Crown and was returned to Government service.11

Policemen were fair game for bushrangers too.

Constable Daniels of the Penrith police had a number of duties, one of which was to collect the

newspapers and mail from Hollinsworth, William Dean’s home on the Western Road at Eastern Creek.

In April 1827, as the constable was riding along the road, three armed bushrangers leapt out

from bushy scrub near Major Druitt’s house (the suburb of Mount Druitt bears his name) and demanded

that he drop his weapon or have his brains blown out. The constable very sensibly dropped his musket,

which the felons immediately took, together with his ammunition, jacket, hat and handkerchief. The

bandits were later identified as William Ward (an escapee from Sydney gaol), Thomas Napper (alias

William Richardson) and Thomas Power (two runaways from a Prospect chain gang). Local settlers

and their convict servants discovered where the gang was hiding and a fierce gun battle broke out.

Napper was killed and both Ward and Power severely wounded. They were executed in May 1827.12

In 1829, in an incident that would be today’s equivalent of a home invasion, two Irish-accented

and armed bushrangers bailed up the overseer’s wife and a young manservant who lived in a hut on

Reverend Samuel Marsden’s estate at Prospect. The daring intruders treated the pair “with considerable

violence”, threatening to shoot the servant if he offered any resistance. After searching the hut, the

bandits fled with a gun, food and clothing that belonged to five farm labourers who were, at that very

moment, working in a nearby paddock. The overseer, on hearing his wife’s screams, raised the alarm

and, with one of the labourers, took off in pursuit of the bushrangers. Unexpectedly, the criminals

turned on their pursuers and attacked, threatening them with death. They then escaped.13

Is it possible that these men were part of the notorious Donohue gang who once terrorised our area?

WILLIAM ANSON’S TICKET OF LEAVE, 1828

HOLLINSWORTH, EASTERN CREEK, HOME OF WILLIAM “LUMPY” DEAN

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Much has been written about the famous bushranger, “Bold Jack” Donohue (aka Donohoo,

Donahoo, Donaghue, Donague). His real name was John Donohue and he was known to one and all as

Jack.

Our focus will be on Bold Jack’s local activities. Those recorded here may not be in exact

chronological order due to conflicting or undated information.

John Donohue’s Australian Story actually started in Dublin on 3 April 1823 when he, an errand

boy by occupation, was convicted of “Intent to commit a Felony” and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Perhaps he was the “John Donohoe” described in the Dublin Evening May in February 1824 for

attempting to steal pigs.

Donohue arrived on the ship Ann and Amelia at Sydney Cove in January 1825. Over the next few

months, he was assigned to John Pagan, a settler at Parramatta, worked in a road-gang, and assigned to

Parramatta surgeon Major West (Major being the man’s first name) owner of a 700-acre grant known

as Quakers Hill. Donohue also served time in the Appin district and in the Hunter Valley from where

he absconded in late 1827 with two other convicts, William Smith and George Kildray (Kilray). On

foot, the trio robbed many slow-moving bullock drays that travelled along the pot holed

Sydney−Windsor road. Donohue, Smith and Kildray were captured on Richmond Road and charged

with highway robbery. They were found Guilty. Smith and Kildray were hung by the neck until dead

however Donohoe escaped from custody between the court and the gaol in Sussex Street.

Another version of Donohue’s escape is that he fled from a sleeping hut after removing his leg

irons and ball, and headed west.

Donohue’s description varies from one newspaper to another. Each of these portrayals may help

us visualise the man who committed many atrocities in our district. An early Reward notice that offered

£20 for his capture, described Donohue as “22 years of age, 5 feet 4 inches (162 cm) in height, brown

freckled complexion, flaxen hair, blue eyes, and has a scar under the left nostril”. In another report, he

was described as a “good-looking fellow with effeminate features, flaxen hair and blue eyes, strongly

built, five feet four inches tall and a veritable savage when roused to anger by anything like resistance”.

Another article described him as an “insignificant-looking fellow” whose “mean looking visage was

not improved by an ugly scar on his left cheek”. His usual attire consisted of a velveteen coat and vest,

mole-skin trousers, blue nankeen (cotton) shirt and a cabbage tree hat. These items may well have been

stolen from his victims.

Donohue joined forces with William Webber (alias Bailey), John Walmsley and William

Underwood. Everywhere they went, they brutally plundered clothing, arms and ammunition.

Donohue, Webber, Walmsley and Underwood ranged over a wide area – the Illawarra, Wollombi,

the Blue Mountains, Yass, Bathurst, Windsor, Penrith, the Cowpastures, Liverpool and throughout the

Blacktown area. Despite the military’s presence in our locality, and the offer of a ₤100 reward for their

capture, they remained at large. Their main targets were Eastern Creek, South Creek and Prospect.

Donohue’s gang had many hideouts. Among them were secret places in the Blue Mountains and

hidden caves at North Rocks and Camden. Both these caves are known as “Donohue’s Cave” today.

The gang also had refuges at Prospect. One

was near The Fox under the Hill Inn on the

Western Road, close to where the car park of the

Fox Hills Golf Club is today. Another hideout,

a favourite of Donohue’s, was an old shebeen

(an unlicensed drinking establishment) whose

lady owner was an ardent admirer of Bold Jack.

She was reputed to have harboured and

provisioned him in more ways than one!

The Donohue gang (sometimes numbering

a score or more) had literally dozens of friends

and accomplices among the settlers of Seven Hills who regularly concealed them, “fenced” their stolen

booty and contributed to their “creature comforts”, otherwise known as female companionship!

One of the lesser known members of Donohue’s crew was William Underwood, a “currency lad”

(a youth born in the colony) who, without the gang’s knowledge, faithfully kept a journal of all the

gang’s daily activities. When his diary was discovered, Donohue murdered young William in cold-

blood.14

FOX UNDER THE HILL INN, c. 1830

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After committing a spate of crimes near Richmond, Donohue, Walmsley and Webber bailed up

Robert Lethbridge, a Magistrate of the Territory, as he was driving his gig about two miles from his

home Flushcombe near the Western Road at Prospect. Lethbridge was stripped of everything he was

wearing, except for his flannel drawers (long johns) and socks. The gang left him by the side of the

road leading his horse by the bridle. The gang then rode across country to their Prospect lair.

The police hunted vigorously for the Donohue gang. On one occasion, Donohue himself was very

nearly captured by troopers at Quakers Hill, but he hid in the straw of a calf pen and evaded detection.15

A number of settlers volunteered to help in the police search but their willingness made them

vulnerable to further attack.

On the other hand, Donohue was popular amongst the poorer settlers (probably former convicts

themselves) who were sympathetic to the bushrangers’ cause and often helped the gang. These settlers

were given a secret password, “Narboclish Shinabocle!”, which had the same effect as “Open Sesame”

in the fairy tales of our childhood. This code implied an honourable understanding between the settlers

and the bushrangers and gave the settlers a sort of immunity when accosted with the words: “Your

money or your life!”16

For over four years, this nefarious gang carried on their reign of terror around our district. Bold

Jack’s brute courage, subtle cunning, a successful spy network, and his skill for finding a way across

bush country without touching a road, helped him evade capture.

In desperation in 1830, the NSW Government offered “an Absolute Pardon and free passage to

England or a grant of land” to anyone who gave information leading to his arrest.17

One of the workers on the Bungarribee estate around about that time was 18-year-old Dougal

McKellar, known as “Duke” to his friends. In 1898, nearly six decades after the events described here,

Duke was interviewed by a journalist from the Windsor and Richmond Gazette and he reminisced about

the times he met the Donohue gang – and lived to tell the tale.

Duke recollected that on the first occasion, three well-dressed and well-mounted men rode past

the Bungarribee stables where he was working, and after a few casual remarks, they swiftly galloped

away. A few minutes later, three police troopers rode up, gave an accurate description of the men and

asked in which direction they had taken. Duke pointed out the track, and the troopers rode off. Two or

three hours later, the troopers reappeared, completely baffled. They had lost their quarry in a growth

of ti-tree scrub somewhere on the Bungarribee estate. Duke then learnt to his surprise that he had

actually spoken to Donohue and his notorious confederates.

The next day, as Duke was riding in the same direction, he came upon the gang at one of the

Bungarribee gates. This time he opened the gate and Donohue rode through, giving Duke a rupee (an

Indian coin) as he passed through. Duke met the gang twice more at that gate. The final encounter was

on 1 September 1830, an important date in bushranging history. Duke remembered the day well, as

Donohue had remarked to him that he hoped they would meet in heaven. About an hour later, and five

or six miles further on (according to McKellar), the outlaw gang were confronted by the police. During

this “engagement”, Donohue was shot dead, the ball striking him in the temple.

Duke McKellar ended the interview with − “I heard about the encounter the police had with the

bushrangers. I also heard that the leader was shot, so I rode back, and, strange to say, the very same

gate which I had opened on three previous occasions, I opened to allow the police to bring his dead

body through. His two confederates were taken to Parramatta and hanged for highway robbery.”18

The day that Donohue met his end received much publicity, however there are several variations

of this event. For instance, when police asked him to surrender, Donohue reputedly shouted “I’ll fight

and never surrender!” Others heard his last words differently. All agree, however, that as Donohue

tried to shelter behind a tree, an old soldier, Trooper John Muggleston (Mucklestone, Mugglestone,

Muggleton), fired his rifle and his bullets found their mark.

Donohue’s body was placed on the back of a bullock dray with his possessions which had been

gathered by Constable Michael Gorman. His belongings included a silver watch (maker’s name

effaced), the deeds of two grants of land and transfers (later identified as the stolen property of Mr and

Mrs Begley of Prospect), a fowling-piece (shot gun) and pistols, as well as female apparel (three gowns,

a pair of stays, a petticoat, scarf, boots and caps (which were probably destined for his lady friends).

On Donohue’s packhorse were 150 pounds of flour (68 kg) and some meat.

The dray was trundled into Campbelltown, and then to Sydney’s Macquarie Street Hospital.

6

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser on 4 September 1830 (p. 2) gave a slightly

different slant to the story.

“This daring marauder has at length been met by that untimely fate which he so long contrived to avoid.

On Wednesday evening, at dusk, as a party of the Mounted Police were riding through the bush at

Reiby, near Campbell Town, they came up with three bushrangers, one of whom was Donohoe; on

being called upon to stand, they threw away their hats and shoes, and ran off, when the Police fired, and

killed Donohoe on the spot, one ball entering his neck and another his forehead. Favoured by the dusk,

the others made their escape, and in defiance of the dreadful fate of their comrade, that very night broke

into a hut and carried off what they wanted. The body of Donohoe was removed to Liverpool, and will

be brought to Sydney this morning. Thus is the colony rid of one of the most dangerous spirits that ever

infested it, and happy would it be were those of a like disposition to take warning by his awful fate.”

This report claimed that the destination of the bullock dray was Liverpool. In the previous account

it was recorded as Campbelltown.

A Coronial Inquest, held to determine the actual cause of Donohue’s death, was performed by

coroner Major Smeathman at the Fox and Hounds Inn in Castlereagh Street, Sydney. One of the

witnesses in attendance was Robert Campbell of Doonside. This is where he recognised the trousers

that Donohue was wearing as the trousers that had been stripped from him (Crawford) during a robbery

only a few weeks previously. The jury deliberated for only a short time before the historical verdict of

Justifiable Homicide was announced.

Donohue’s body was sent to the “morgue” at the Macquarie

Street hospital which was actually the hospital kitchen. The

hospital was built without a morgue so food was prepared in the

wards. The hospital, built between 1811 and 1816, was known as

the Rum Hospital and was located across the road from today’s

Reserve Bank. Two of its three wings still remain and can be

visited today. We know them as NSW Parliament House and The

Mint.

It is believed that the morgue was where Surveyor General

Sir Thomas Mitchell made this pencil drawing of Donohue’s corpse.

OLD SYDNEY HOSPITAL, c. 1880s (The Mint of today)

BOLD JACK DONOHUE’S CORPSE, MACQUARIE STREET HOSPITAL, 1830 Pencil sketch by Sir Thomas Mitchell

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About that same time, a tobacco pipe maker by the name of Mr

Morland made a Plaster of Paris cast of Donohue’s head. He also made

a cast in miniature, complete with bullet holes, which he used as the

design for his new range of clay pipes. It was reported that he made a

small fortune over the following twenty years!

The actual mask of John Donohue was kept by the Australian

Museum in its collection of death masks. However, in 1897, the Museum

donated the entire collection to the Anatomy Museum at Sydney

University but the collection has long since disappeared.19

Donohue is remembered (or celebrated) in the old ballad “The Wild

Colonial Boy”. At the time however, Government authorities, believing

that Bold Jack’s praises would be a bad influence on the next generation,

proclaimed that any hotel publican who allowed this ditty to be sung in

his bar would lose his hotel licence.20

The lock of the old flintlock pistol belonging to Bold Jack Donohue,

the notorious bushranger, was discovered in Sydney in 1900.21

Meanwhile, back at the battle site where Donohue was killed, Webber and Walmsley had fled into

the bush on foot, pursued by a number of troopers. The criminals escaped and continued their audacious

thuggery throughout our locality. A wanted Notice was placed in the newspapers.22

DEATH MASK BOLD JACK DONOHUE, 1830

GOVERNMENT NOTICE Colonial Secretary’s Office,

SYDNEY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1830.

FORTY POUNDS REWARD

NOTICE is hereby given, that a Reward

of TWENTY POUNDS will be paid to

any Person or Persons who may

apprehend and lodge in any of his

Majesty’s Gaols, either JOHN

WALMSLEY, or WILLIAM

WEBBER, alias BALEY, who it

appears were for Months past the

Companions of Donahoe in his

Depredations; and all Constables are

hereby ordered and directed to use their

utmost Endeavours for this Purpose.

JOHN WALMSLEY Minerva (5), 24,

carter, Leeds, 5 feet 4½, chestnut eyes,

dark brown hair, brown complexion,

little freckled.

WILLIAM WEBBER, alias BALEY,

Minstrel (2), 25, ploughman

Somersetshire, 5 feet 2, blue eyes,

brown hair, fresh freckled complexion.

By Command of His Excellency the

Governor,

ALEXANDER McLEAY

8

Three weeks later, on 6 October 1830, Robert Crawford of Hill End, Doonside became one of their

victims.23

In November 1830, Thomas Pye was riding from his Seven Hills home towards Parramatta when

Webber and Walmsley attempted to stop him by threatening to blow his brains out if he did not comply.

The courageous Pye spurred his horse into a gallop instead. Webber fired his weapon, the ball passing

through Pye’s jacket, waistcoat and shirt and grazed his thigh. Pye fled the scene without further

injury.24

William Webber was on the run for nine weeks before seeking refuge at the Corporation Inn on

the Western Road at Eastern Creek. The innkeeper, William Dean (aka “Lumpy” due to his size)

refused to harbour this criminal and ordered him to leave. It was not long before the military police

captured William Webber on the verandah of the inn. He was kept overnight in Constable William

Bragge’s lock up before being sent to Sydney to await his trial.25

The capture of William Webber raises an interesting question. Where was Constable Bragge’s

lock-up?

To find the answer, we return to the year 1811 when the first toll gate was erected on the road

between Sydney and Parramatta (now Parramatta Road). Seven years later, in 1818, a toll gate was

built on William Dean’s land at Eastern Creek. It was probably just a bar or barricade across the road

where the toll-keeper collected a fee for opening the gate to let travellers through. The money raised

went towards paying his wages and for road maintenance. Many readers would remember a similar

procedure at the old (modern) toll gates at Silverwater before electronic tags came into existence and

before the booths were removed completely.

The lodge or residence built for the toll keeper at Eastern Creek was later converted into a lock-

up, known locally as the Garrison. This is the most likely place that the bushranger William Webber

was imprisoned on the night of his capture in 1830.

This leads to another question. Who was Constable Bragge? His story adds to our history.

9

William Bragge, an Apothecary (pharmacist) by profession, was sentenced at the Gloucester

Assizes in 1818 to fourteen years’ transportation for the crime of receiving stolen property. After

arriving in NSW on the convict ship Baring, he was assigned to Parramatta Hospital as a Dispenser. In

1825, he was granted an early Ticket of Leave to become a Police Constable at Parramatta, and in 1829,

appointed as the District Constable for the Parish of Melville which roughly stretched east−west

between Eastern Creek and Rope’s Creek, and from the Western Road south to the Bringelly/Cecil Hills

district of today.

Between 1829 and 1833, Constable Bragge was appointed Pound Keeper of the Melville animal

pound. His job was to capture and impound strayed cattle, horses, sheep and goats and then try to locate

their owners by advertising in the newspaper. If no one claimed the animals, they were sold by auction.

In these advertisements, Bragge described the location of the pound as being near William Dean’s

house, between the Travellers’ Rest Inn and the Bush Inn, on the Western Road at Eastern Creek (near

today’s bridge across Eastern Creek on the Great Western Highway).

This relatively modern map of 1938 shows William Dean’s property where bushranger William

Webber was captured. WILLIAM “LUMPY” DEAN’S PROPERTY

William Bragge gained his Certificate of Freedom in 1832, was appointed Watchhouse Keeper at

Prospect in 1837 (there is a Watch House Road in Prospect today) and then promoted to District

Constable at Ryde where he worked until his resignation in1858. It is interesting to note that William

married Ann Rumsby in 1823. Ann was the female convict at the centre of a scandal at Parramatta in

1822 that involved a number of high-profile men including magistrate Dr Henry Grattan Douglass (her

master), Dr James Hall and the Reverend Samuel Marsden. Dr Douglass chose William Bragge as the

most suitable claimant to her hand although Ann declared at the time that marrying Bragge “would be

her ruin”. They had eight children. Ann died in 1850 and William in 1861, aged 72 years. They are

buried together in the same grave, next to the grave of their son William, at St Anne’s Anglican Church,

Ryde.26

ANIMAL SANCTUARY AND WILLIAM DEAN’S PROPERTY GREAT WESTERN HIGHWAY, EASTERN CREEK, 1938

10

In June 1831, bushranger William Webber, the man who had committed many violent attacks and

murders, was found Guilty on just two counts of highway robbery. This verdict was based on the

evidence of his whistle blowing partner in crime, John Walmsley, who had been captured and had

become a witness for the prosecution.

Webber, contrite and hopeful that his life would be spared, cried bitterly when he received the

warrant for his execution. He admitted his involvement in the outrages that he, as part of the gang, had

committed in our locality.

He also confessed to a crime that he alone had committed. This was the burglary of James

Atkinson’s Olbury estate at Sutton Forest which had led to three innocent men serving undeserved life

sentences on Norfolk Island. As a result of Webber’s confession, John Champley, Joseph Shelvey and

John Yates, known as the Campbell Town Convicts, were brought home and exonerated.

In July 1831, Webber was hanged in the gaol yard in George Street, Sydney along with three other

criminals, James Ready (burglary), Charles MacManus (attempted murder) and John Thomas (cattle

stealing). It was a public hanging.

Prior to his own capture, John Walmsley, Donahue’s lieutenant, had continued in “business” with

the criminal gang at Seven Hills − Michael and Mary O’Brien, Mary and Mary Ann O’Hara (mother

and daughter perhaps), Michael Cantwell, and John and James O’Hara.

Walmsley was captured by four mounted policemen on 5 January 1831 at Mount Philo, John

Thomas Campbell’s property on the Western Road near Rooty Hill. As the map below was used for

another purpose, please ignore the red outline. MOUNT PHILO ESTATE

John Campbell was Governor Macquarie’s chief assistant in the administration of the colony. In

1819, he was granted 1100 acres next to Erskine Park which he named Mount Philo in commemoration

of a libel case between himself and the Reverend Samuel Marsden. Campbell died early in 1830,

unaware of the exciting events that were to occur on his property.

EARLY 19TH CENTURY PARISH MAP SHOWING JOHN THOMAS CAMPBELL’S MOUNT PHILO PROPERTY

11

After Walmsley was captured, he was placed in a cart beside Constable Horn and surrounded by

mounted police with their swords drawn. The 39th Regiment escorted him from Mount Philo to Lumpy

Dean’s watch-house on the Western Road. Although Constable Bragge (mentioned above) was not

personally named, it is quite likely that he was involved in Walmsley’s arrest in some way.

Walmsley was taken from the lock-up to Parramatta where crowds of happy settlers, elated by his

capture, milled around the cart. He was then transferred to a ship in Sydney Harbour and later confined

in the prisoners’ barracks at Hyde Park.27

Walmsley committed many murders and robberies, one of which was the theft of a silver watch

and gold chain from Robert Crawford. According to the newspapers, the robbery was purported to have

occurred at Bungarribee. Was this perhaps a reporting error? Or was Crawford, who actually lived

down the road at Hill End, visiting the Campbell family at Bungarribee at the time of the incident?

William Walmsley ultimately was to face only two charges − the highway robbery of Robert

Lethbridge near Flushcombe and the “robbery in the dwelling house of Susannah Rogan, at Castle Hill,

on 3 May 1830 and putting the inmates in bodily fear.” He was found Guilty on both counts and

confined to a cell in double irons. During his long trial, Walmsley, who was reputed to have said

nothing in his own defence, became an informer (turned King’s evidence), betraying his old partner,

William Webber.

Walmsley also became the prime witness in over twenty-four criminal cases in which settlers,

mostly from Seven Hills, faced charges of receiving the gang’s stolen booty. Many of these “fences”

(dealers in stolen goods), were convicted on Walmsley’s evidence alone.

On the morning of his execution, Walmsley was “most graciously pardoned” by His Majesty (via

His Excellency the Governor Lieutenant General Sir Ralph Darling) due to his significant disclosures

relating to the activities of William Webber and the others. Walmsley, spared the hangman’s noose,

was sentenced to the term of his natural life.28

As a direct result of Walmsley informing on the Seven Hills settlers who had harboured, supplied

food and ammunition or received the gang’s ill-gotten gains, many were found Guilty and served

sentences of varying lengths. Among them were Michael O’Brien, John Toole, Thomas Sims (John

Blaxland’s overseer) and the O’Hara family of Seven Hills.

Although Michael Cantwell, an old man, was

found Not Guilty, his Seven Hills farm was sold, as

were the farms of two of the guilty men, Michael

O’Brien and James O’Hara.

O’Brien’s farm at Seven Hills was sold by the

Sheriff in an effort to recover some of the criminal’s

debts. David Maziere, who bought O’Brien’s land in

1834, spent over £1500 to build a home and outhouses,

and to plant crops and orange orchards. The Maziere

family lived there for twelve years before O’Brien

returned to Sydney after serving his 14-year sentence on

Norfolk Island. O’Brien successfully reclaimed the

farm through the courts and immediately ejected the

family from the farm. As a result of O’Brien’s action,

Maziere and his family were “plunged into a state of

destitution”.

Some of the settlers were acquitted of their crimes.

John Smith was tried for receiving a black velvet

waistcoat that he had stolen at Prospect and found Not

Guilty.

After the imprisonment of many of the gang’s

supporters, other unscrupulous settlers became angry

with Walmsley and his life was put in imminent danger.

The authorities sent him to Hobart Town in Van

Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) where he served the rest of his sentence. In 1841, Walmsley was granted

a Ticket of Leave and in June 1843, a Conditional Pardon.29

SALE NOTICE, 1831 O’BRIEN, O’HARA AND CANTWELL FARMS

12

In attempting to reconstruct the timeline of the activities of Bold Jack Donohue and his gang (and

only a few stories that directly relate to our area are recorded here), it was found that not all information

in the newspapers or posted on the web is accurate. Ergo, always check the facts.

For instance, the location of the famous shootout where Donohue was killed varied from “near

Campbelltown”, “near Cobbitty”, “Reiby, near Campbell Town” (possibly modern Raby) and

Bringelly. The majority of reports specify Bringelly.30

Keeping these locations in mind, inconsistencies appear in 87-year-old Dougal “Duke” McKellar’s

recollection of the events of 1830. He stated that Donohue was killed “five or six miles further on”

[from Bungarribee] and “the very same gate [at Bungarribee] which I had opened on three previous

occasions, I opened to allow the police to bring his dead body through.” How could this be possible?

The cart carrying Donohue’s body would have had to leave the site of the battle (wherever that

was), travel to Campbelltown, back through the Bungarribee gate (many miles away in the other

direction), and then continue its journey to the hospital in Macquarie Street. No evidence has been

found to support McKellar’s version of events.

Another article in which Donohue rated a brief mention appeared in the Sydney Sportsman on 10

December 1902. This story featured John Higgerson, a jockey and retired horse trainer, who claimed

that when he was a young man, he worked for Charles Smith at Bungarribee where he met Donahue

and his gang in the Bungarribee scrub. This may be true – or is it?

Two of the facts are true.

Fact 1 – John Higgerson was a very famous jockey in his day.

Fact 2 − Charles Smith was the owner of Bungarribee, the major thoroughbred horseracing and

breeding property in NSW.

Did Higgerson meet Bold Jack during Charles Smith’s ownership? The answer is definitely no,

because during the deadly days of Donohue, Thomas Icely was the owner of Bungarribee (between

1827 and 1832). Charles Smith was actually Bungarribee’s owner between 1832 and 1840, two full

years after Jack Donohue had been shot and killed in1830.31

It is quite probable that both McKellar and Higgerson had a lapse in their memories due to old

age.

The elimination of Donohue, Walmsley and Webber curbed bushranging activities for some time

within the colony as a whole, but outlaws still roamed around our area.

Three convicts, Patrick McNamara, Dalton and Toms (first names unknown), absconded from

a chain gang at Parramatta and carried out a range of crimes between Liberty Plains (the area around

Concord and Auburn) and Penrith. In 1830, these ruffians boldly invaded Flushcombe, the home of

Captain Robert Lethbridge at Prospect. Lethbridge soon organised a party of Red Coats who chased

the felons into the forest at Prospect where the felons escaped.

The Government offered a liberal reward for the capture of McNamara, Dalton and Toms. Two

policemen, on the lookout on Windsor Road between the Darling Mills and Baulkham Hills where

attacks had taken place a few days before, noticed a man trying to hide. They made towards him but as

they approached the spot, two men, armed with muskets, sprang out from the scrub. One fired at Chief

Constable Thorn (of Parramatta) who discharged his own weapon at the same instant and shot the

assailant. Without thought for his own safety, Thorn jumped from a precipice, and succeeded in taking

the wounded man prisoner. The fugitive was identified as Patrick McNamara.

The other man, confirmed as Dalton, fired at Constable Horn who returned fire, wounding the

fleeing man in the arm. He was seized and conveyed to Parramatta gaol. The fate of Mr Toms, their

partner in crime, remains unknown to this day.32 Constable Horn had taken an active role in the capture

of Walmsley only a few months before this.

In 1831, just a mile west of Lumpy Dean’s Corporation Inn, three bushrangers stole eggs,

poultry, maize and clothing from a settler driving his market cart. The men were armed with pistols

but, lucky for the carter, they did not threaten any violence.33

In an incident in 1833, David Perrier was riding from South Creek (a village then, but now the

suburb of St Marys) when three armed bushrangers, with faces blackened, jumped from the bush,

calling for Perrier to “Stand and Deliver”. With great presence of mind, Perrier suddenly wheeled

around, laid himself parallel on the horse’s back, and galloped away without loss or injury, despite a

shot being fired at him. The Chief Constable at Eastern Creek was made aware of the incident, and

speedily apprehended the marauders.

13

Another report of the same (or similar?) event described how Mounted Police and parties of foot

soldiers tried to capture seven well-armed bushrangers who had robbed Mr Perrier and two carts at

Rooty Hill.34

Around that same time, four armed and masked men looted a settler’s house at Prospect after an

unsuccessful attempt at robbery of the nearby Veteran Hall, the home of William Lawson, the

explorer.35

In 1835, two well-dressed bushrangers, brandishing a pair of pistols, held up a settler in his cart

on the Western Road. The men helped themselves to the contents of the cart ― farm implements, a

small quantity of spirits and tobacco, tea, sugar and a loaf of bread. They then handed the carter ₤1,

saying that, as he was a poor man, they did not wish him any distress. They rode off towards the Rooty

Hill.36

In the mid-1830s, quite a number of bushrangers were “disposed of” − shot, hanged or returned to

their chains. Luke Hyland’s servant at the Prospect Inn accounted for one bushranger who had

disguised himself as a Mounted Policeman!37

In 1844, Robert Crawford of Hill End took Samuel Mann to court. charging him with stealing two

doors and seventeen flooring boards valued at £3 from an uninhabited house nearby. Mann was found

Guilty and his Ticket of Leave cancelled, but as he had provided important information which led to

the capture of a military bushranger, his sentence was relatively lenient.38

In June 1845, a daring robbery was committed at the home of the Lomax family at Eastern Creek,

which back in those days, was one of the loneliest areas in the district. In this incident, three armed

bushrangers broke into the house, tied up the inhabitants and ransacked the house. The bandits escaped

with silver plate valued at ₤150, linen, clothing, a pair of pistols and a carbine (a rifle). They also seized

a pair of horses to carry their “swag”, and one of the convict servants, who they repeatedly addressed

by name!

When Chief Constable Ryan heard the news, he and several

policemen headed to Eastern Creek. The servant was found by the

roadside and returned to the house where he claimed that he had been

“compelled through intimidation” to assist the robbers, was severely

injured by a horse, and dumped on by the wayside on the Western

Road. He was identified as Irish-born William Dillon, a coach

painter by trade, who had been transported in 1839 for stealing a

harness. The Chief Constable meticulously checked the man’s body

but did not find any evidence that he had been violently attacked.

Dillon was arrested on suspicion of planning the raid but as there was

no direct evidence to convict him, he was returned to Hyde Park

Barracks.39

Not all bushrangers were clever, resourceful or even successful. A little mistake often lead to

capture. Those who had some skills in bushcraft had a better chance of freedom than those who were

brought up in a city. A shrewd bushranger knew that smoke from a cooking fire could be seen from a

distance and easily alert the constabulary to his hideout. The following stories about the bumbling

endeavours of two local bushranging gangs, united for a short time in the late 1840s, read like a comedy!

In 1848, Ensign Parker and a guard of ten privates were escorting sixty convicts from Parramatta

to Emu Plains. The prisoners were linked together in three long lines by light marching chains, free of

shackles and manacles, as it was essential that they had full freedom to keep up with the punishing pace

that was set by the young officer. Despite the protests of soldiers and convicts alike, two of the oldest

felons collapsed to the ground.

“Prod them with your bayonets. They’re only shamming!” Parker commanded. The two nearest

guards, Privates William Watt and Allan Chambers, refused to move. Parker bellowed to the other

escorts, “Put these two mutineers under arrest.” Watt and Chambers responded with, “You −−−

coward!” (Watt) and “You tyrant!” (Chambers), spitting at his commander. Three days later Watt and

Chambers were drummed out of their Parramatta regiment, and, weighed down with chains, were sent

to join the very gang they had been escorting.

The two old privates, veterans of the Peninsula War and heroes at Waterloo, endured the

degradation and brutality of the convict system for six months before escaping into the bush.

HYDE PARK BARRACKS, 1871

14

Hoping to earn enough to return to England, they began raiding farms and travellers along the

Hawkesbury River, often riding further afield to hold up coaches on the Windsor Road. Their rigorous

military experience in enemy countries stood them in good stead.

In 1849, Watt and Chambers joined forces with another band of outlaws who were operating in

the same district. Thomas Connor, William Richards and Joseph Lovett Kitchen (more about them

later) had already devised a plan to raid the Bungarribee homestead at Doonside, where it was

rumoured, Alexander John Kellie, the resident at that time, kept a chest of golden guineas and a fine

collection of crested silver plate.

Before the joint raid took place, the gangs argued over two issues of equal importance to both

sides. The first point of contention was who was to be the gang’s leader – Connor or Watt. Their

second concern was the outrageous demand of Connor, Richards and Kitchen (simply referred to as

Connor & Co from this point) for the lion’s share of the booty. The gangs could not agree so they

parted company on bad terms, and went their separate ways.

William Watt and Allan Chambers decided to go

ahead with the Bungarribee job anyway. They enlisted the

help of Stephen Booth, a 17-year-old youth who lived with

his settler-parents at the back of the Bungarribee property.

Their attack on the homestead found no resistance as

Mr Kellie had, just that afternoon, ridden to Sydney,

leaving his home, servants and valuables completely

unprotected. The property was guarded by hysterical

women and some male convict servants who just happened

to be sympathetic to the outlaws’ cause.

The three bushrangers filled their sacks with 180

golden guineas and a “glittering abundance” of crested

plate, trampling flat the pieces that would not fit. Watt clothed himself in Kellie’s favourite suit while

Chambers donned the owner’s cord breeches, brocade waistcoat and horseman’s cloak. Young Booth

was happy enough just to pilfer a gaudy red silk neckerchief. The outlaws then scarpered to Booth’s

paddock at the rear of the property where they hid the sacks filled with plunder in a hollow log in a

dense patch of scrub, and fled, just as Connor & Co rode up to Bungarribee from the opposite direction.

Watt, Chambers and Booth reached the Bungarribee tollgate near Lumpy Dean’s Corporation Inn

where they learnt that the Penrith to Sydney mail coach had just passed through. Taking advantage of

this priceless piece of intelligence, they galloped after the coach as it lumbered along the rutted Western

Road. The coachman, seeing his pursuers, wisely brought the coach to a sudden halt. “Everyone get

down”, yelled one bushranger, “or we’ll blow your brains out.” As young Booth guarded the

passengers, Watt and Chambers quickly looted the six frightened passengers and the mailbags,

pocketing jewellery, gold and silver watches and a rare cashmere Indian shawl. Once again, they fled

into the bush.

Mr Wearin, one of the passengers, retrieved his pistol from his valise

(bag), and fired at the shadowy figures among the trees. His second shot

found its mark, but a return volley from the fleeing men, concealed by the

trees, caused him to seek shelter within the coach. Before he could reload,

the coach driver had lashed his team into a gallop in a frantic bid for safety.

William Watt, the old soldier, had been struck on the side of his head, the ball cutting a furrow

through his scalp above his ear. He was still able to lead his little troop back to their lair in the

Bungarribee scrub and after dividing the spoils, they quickly resumed their escape to Sydney.

Police Chief Constable Shirley, Inspectors Wearin and Burrowes, all from Windsor, were to pursue

those outlaws until they were caught with “unflagging perseverance and vigorous exertion”. It was no

wonder, as Inspector Wearin had been one of the six passengers on board that coach!

The following day, William Watt and Allan Chambers, dressed in Mr Kellie’s “borrowed” clothes

and carrying valises crammed with currency and battered and flattened plate, found lodging at the Gas

Inn in Kent Street, Sydney, then owned by Mr Davis. Here they laid low, venturing out at night to

organise the sale of the looted valuables and the melting down of the silver plate to destroy its identity.

They also booked their berth on the ship, the Challis, which was soon to depart for England.

BUNGARRIBEE HOUSE, DOONSIDE

FLEEING COACH

15

On the eve of their embarkation, Watt and Chambers, now disguised in full beards and attired in

stolen clothes, were lounging at the bar when Bungarribee’s Mr Kellie arrived to talk to the innkeeper

Davis about a dray of oats. As the two ruffians had not seen Kellie before, his entry caused no concern

but the observant Kellie had recognised his brocaded waistcoat that one of the men was wearing and

the very visible Kellie family crest on the apple peeler that the other man was using. Sergeants

McDonnell and O’Neil at the George Street Police Station were notified, and within a few minutes,

Watt and Chambers were securely manacled. The Challis sailed to England the next morning without

them.

William Watt and Allan Chambers pleaded Guilty to burglarising Bungarribee and robbing the

Penrith Mail coach. They were each sentenced to spend the next fifteen years shackled in irons working

in the road gangs.

It was the rare cashmere shawl that brought the downfall of their young Bungarribee accomplice

Stephen Booth. He had stolen the shawl from Chambers on the night of the robbery and was caught

trying to sell it for 20 guineas at Penrith. His asking price had raised suspicion, so the police were

notified and they pounced. Booth sobbed out the whole story. He pleaded Guilty and was sentenced

to three years with periods in solitary confinement.

Remember Thomas Connor, William Richards and Joseph Lovett Kitchen (Connor & Co)

who had originally planned the raid on Bungarribee? This is their story.

Thomas Connor and William Richards, unlike many other bushrangers, had served their respective

sentences and had been granted their Tickets of Leave in early 1849.

They were a villainous looking pair, dirty, unkempt, and evil-faced. Connor was a man of 35,

lanky but broad-shouldered. William Richards was 60, withered, emaciated and stooped. Both men

bore the unmistakable signs of working in convict chain gangs, their faces expressing belligerent

viciousness that time would never erase.

They were soon joined by Joseph Lovett Kitchen, a 21-year-old Lancashire seaman who had just

recently arrived in Sydney on the Penyard Park. Kitchen was described as 5 feet 7½ inches (171cm)

tall with light brown hair, grey eyes and ruddy complexion.

Not satisfied with their lot in life, the trio began holding up travellers on the roads and robbing

small farmhouses. They apparently were too afraid to attack the larger homesteads or armed coaches.

Connor & Co were “vigorously” sought by police troopers who often raided or destroyed their

unguarded campsites. On one occasion, the gang was surprised by a party of troopers near Blacktown

and had great difficulty in escaping from the hail of bullets that flew around their heads. Kitchen was

slightly wounded in the leg in that skirmish.

It is worth noting that “Blacktown” itself did not receive its name until many years after that

particular incident. The road leading to The Black Town Native Institute (it closed in 1833) was known

as the Black Town Road. It was not until 1860 that the Railway Department gave the name “Black

Town Road Station” to the station at the junction of the railway and the Black Town Road. The name

“Black Town” was shortened to Blacktown when a post office at the station was given the name

Blacktown Post Office in 1862.

Connor & Co were joined by two other felons, Edward Johnson and James Owens, but the

reinforced gang soon realised that their modest victims yielded very paltry pickings, and certainly not

enough to divide between them all.

Eager to boost their booty, Connor & Co joined forces with William Watt and Allan Chambers

(mentioned above) in a plan to raid Bungarribee, the home of Alexander John Kellie. A dispute

developed as the two gangs worked out the finer details of the plot. Watt resented Connor’s blatant

ambition to be leader and his preposterous demand for the majority of the treasure. The gangs parted.

Connor & Co decided to do the job themselves. On arriving at Bungarribee, they were dismayed

to find the household in turmoil and the women hysterical. Watt and Chambers had already fled with

all the magnificent silver plate and the chest full of sovereigns. Instead of committing the lucrative

heist, the latecomers found themselves comforting the people they had come to rob. Glum, depressed

and empty handed, they rode back to their lodgings at the Gas Inn in Kent Street, where, coincidentally,

Watt and Chambers had made their headquarters.

During the following weeks, Connor & Co carried out several audacious and worthwhile robberies

around Strawberry Hills and throughout the outer parts of Sydney.

16

Spurred on by these successes, they made two attempts (failed) at burglarising the home of Captain

Frederick Bigger Chilcott at Double Bay. Connor and Richards had both worked there previously,

Richards twice as the Captain’s coachman but had been discharged only a few weeks before. As a

result of these bungled break-ins, security measures at the Chilcott’s house were tightened and two

police constables appointed to guard the property.

Connor and his gang planned a third nocturnal visit. For this raid, Connor made face masks for

the ruffians by cutting small squares of fabric from a bedsheet taken from the Gas Inn. He failed to

notice that the mask he made for Kitchen had the words Gas Inn embroidered in red characters on one

of its corners!

On the night of the robbery, four armed and disguised men

(three with masks, the other wearing a false moustache) burst into

Chilcott’s home. “Stand for your lives”, they shouted, and with

force, threats and menaces, they ransacked the residence. During the

pandemonium, Connor unintentionally brushed his mask away from

his face and he was seen by Mrs Chilcott.

The criminals, carrying sacks of stolen loot, fled to the safety of

the Gas Inn without attracting any notice. The two constables who were supposed to be guarding the

house had arrived late at their post.

The next morning, Connor was walking near the Police Office (why would he do such a thing?)

when Inspector Burrows and two constables recognised him. Mrs Chilcott had given them a good

description of Connor as she had recognised her former employee when the mask had lifted from his

face. Connor immediately informed the police that Richards was at the shop of Robert Goulding, a

dealer at Brickfield Hill. The Inspector and his men dashed to Goulding’s shop where Richards was, at

that very moment, “fencing” two watches and a snuff-box that had been stolen the night before. He too

was apprehended.

Joseph Kitchen was captured soon after. His identification was confirmed by Mrs Chilcott who

had observed the words Gas Inn embroidered on his face mask. In his pocket, the police found a

timepiece and a Ceylonese coin that had belonged to Captain Chilcott. They also found the crucial

mask that Kitchen had used as a handkerchief!

Connor’s gang appeared in court in August 1849. Thomas Connor, William Richards and Edward

Johnson were charged as principals, James Owens and Joseph Lovett Kitchen as accessories. Their

sentences reflect the gravity of their crimes.

Thomas Connor received six years (four years with good conduct).

William Richards constantly declared his innocence. He most likely would have been discharged

without punishment except that one of the witnesses, Edward Clark of Waterloo, claimed a watch that

Richards had previously stolen from him. To make matters worse, when Richards was found Guilty,

his threats of vengeance to Captain Chilcot were overheard by the Judge. Richards was sentenced to

eight years hard labour (six years with good conduct).

Joseph Lovett Kitchen was charged with robbery with arms and sentenced to five years on the

roads (three years with good conduct). In October 1850, he absconded from Cockatoo Island. His

description was quickly circulated and a reward offered. He was apprehended that same night in Sussex

Street and sent to Maitland gaol. In March 1853, he received an earlier-than-expected Ticket of Leave

but this was cancelled because he was found illegally out of his specified area (see conditions of Ticket

of Leave). Kitchen completed his sentence in Maitland and was finally granted a Ticket of Leave in

1854.

James Owens, another member of the gang, was captured but later discharged.

Robert Goulding, the “fence”, was charged with receiving a portion of the stolen property but he

was found Not Guilty. In August 1851, he was found Guilty on another charge of Receiving Stolen

Property and sentenced “to be imprisoned and kept to hard labour in Sydney gaol for 12 calendar

months”.

The story of Connor & Co does not end there. In September 1850, Mrs Chilcott received a letter

from Private John Patterson of the 11th Regiment, stationed in Sydney, offering to restore all her stolen

property on condition that she secured a shorter sentence for Connor, Richards and Kitchen who were

at that time incarcerated on Cockatoo Island. She forwarded the letter to the Colonial Secretary who

then charged John Patterson simply with “writing to a lady”.

THE EMBROIDERED MASKS, 1849

17

Mrs Chilcott was called as a witness at John Patterson’s trial. As she faced the prisoner’s dock,

she instantly recognised Patterson as the fourth man in Connor’s gang who had raided her house.

Perhaps he was the man with the false moustache!

About two years later, police received an anonymous tip-off from a convict on Cockatoo Island.

He directed the police to a creek, not far from the Chilcott’s home, where they retrieved some of the

buried silver plate stolen at the time of the robbery.40

The last reported incident of bushranging in the 1840s in our area occurred on the Western Road

between Doonside and Eastern Creek. In June 1849, two armed men with blackened faces bailed up

the Penrith to Sydney mail coach between Bungarribee and Wallgrove. After the usual “Stop, or I’ll

blow your brains out”, the bushrangers robbed the wealthy passengers of their belongings.41

Then came the gold discoveries of 1850s. Thousands of prospectors seeking their fortunes rushed

in droves along the Western Road over the Blue Mountains to places like Bathurst [Ophir Goldfields],

Sofala [Turon Goldfields], Hill End, Louisa Creek (now Hargraves near Mudgee), and Sunny Corner

(between Lithgow and Bathurst).42

Newspapers were filled with stories of bushrangers, mail robbers, escaping prisoners and the vain

attempts of an understaffed Police Department to capture them.

To avoid being stranded overnight in the open, numerous inns and lodging houses all along the

Western Road offered relatively safe havens for passengers of Cobb & Co coaches and prospectors on

their way to the goldfields.

Among the inns in our area were the Corporation Inn, the Fox under the Hill, The Traveller’s Rest,

The Australian Arms, The Old House at Home (aka The Bush Inn) and the Prospect Inn.43 Another was

Sykes’ Inn at Eastern Creek. A description of the inn in the Sydney Morning Herald gives an extremely

graphic picture of a lodging house at that time.44

“… an unpretentious building of slabs, with bark roof; wooden shutters took the place of glass

windows; and the travellers’ dining room and bedroom had no better illumination than evil-smelling,

smoking tallow candles or still more primitive “fat lamp”.

Still, the gold seekers could not afford to be fastidious, and such bagatelles were not to be

considered with an El Dorado at the end of the journey, and, after all, it was only the more fortunate

class of traveller who could afford hotel accommodation or coach fare, the greater percentage tramping

in company. And a motley crowd it was which lighted up the long roadway with their campfires during

the end of 1853, when the rush was at its height. All classes of society were represented; the travellers

on foot grouping themselves into companies for mutual protection not only from fellow travellers of

unknown or doubtful reputation, but from bushrangers, whose raids from time to time furnished exciting

episodes.”

During the 1850s, one energetic and roving bushranger was Joe Bagge (Baggs, alias Watts) whose

persistent robberies caused much anxiety within our locality. Over the course of a few hours, Bagge

bailed up the Richmond to Sydney coach in the morning, then crossed rough country to Dog Kennel

Road (believed to be part of Cowpasture Road today) and robbed the Sydney to Bathurst mail coach on

the Western Road in the afternoon. Bagge earned very little booty but a great reputation for daring and

smart horsemanship. His short reign of terror ceased when he was apprehended in a ravine in the

Lawson Ranges (an early name for the Blue Mountains).45

During the first fifty years or so of the 1800s, bushrangers terrorised local

settlers and travellers throughout Doonside, Bungarribee, Eastern Creek, Rooty

Hill, Prospect, Seven Hills and Blacktown. Their days were numbered as a

network of telegraph lines began to spread across the colony and the location of

their hideouts was swiftly communicated. Bushrangers who had long evaded

capture were brought to justice − one way or another.46

There is one last link to bushrangers in our area that begs to be included

here. In the early 1870s, newspapers reported three incidences in rural NSW.

Although they did not occur in our locality, the individual at the centre was most

likely one man who was very much a part of Doonside’s history. These news

articles featured a police chase (1870), a bushranger’s arrest (1872) and a murder

(1875).

“CAPTURED AT LAST”

18

The first incident, reported in The Kiama Independent, and Shoalhaven Advertiser in April 1870,

concerned “Bungarribee Jack”, an Aboriginal tracker, who had stolen a horse, bridle, saddle, two pairs

of hobbles, trousers, belt and shirts from a Coonamble farm. Police Superintendent Thompson and two

others tracked the man through the bush for nine long hours and over 77 miles (120 kms), before

detecting him at “Cooper’s place” (unidentified). On hearing his pursuers, the culprit escaped, leaving

the stolen property behind him.47

The second item, published in The Sydney Morning Herald in August 1872, simply stated that an

Aboriginal, known as Bungarribee Jack, was arrested for bushranging, horse stealing and hut-robbing

at Mendooran, north east of Dubbo.48

The third significant incident occurred at Bredbatoura, a small town near Cobargo. The Maitland

Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser in March 1875 reported that Paddy Haddigaddy (aka

Paddyan, Haddygaddy) was murdered by another Aboriginal named Jacky Whyman.49

Jacky Whyman, the murderer, was described in one newspaper as a fit looking man in the prime

of life, and in another, as a tall and powerful Aboriginal about middle age. He was betrothed to

Charlotte, the daughter of Haddigaddy, a man of “advanced in years”, “a noted pugilist” and “feared by

all the blacks”.

However, Paddy withdrew his consent to the marriage, and during the drunken brawl that

followed, gave Jacky a good thrashing, and then fell into an inebriated sleep.

Taking advantage of this situation, Jacky made unwelcome

advances to Paddy’s wife Goody. Fearing Paddy’s waking reaction,

Jacky attacked and hacked the sleeping man with a tomahawk.

Jacky fled to Bega where he turned himself in. Despite pleading

Not Guilty to murder, he was sentenced to death in May 1875. A

journalist covering the trial later reported that − “All the parties are

very intelligent and speak English fluently.”

The Executive Council commuted Jacky Whyman’s sentence to

imprisonment for life “with hard labour on the roads or other public

works of the colony, the first two years in irons”. He ultimately served

only eight years and was discharged in May 1883.

The writer suspects Bungarribee Jack, the bushranger, and Paddy

Haddigaddy, the murdered man, were one man, and that man was John Hourigan (aka Horrigan,

Haeigan, James Harrigan) who once lived and worked at both Hill End and Bungarribee.

John Hourigan (known as Jack) was born in 1822 in Cork, Ireland. He was convicted of an

unspecified crime and transported as a fifteen-year old convict to Botany Bay. He was assigned to

Robert Crawford at Hill End, Doonside where he worked for a few years.

After gaining his Ticket of Leave, Hourigan found work at Bungarribee, just up the road from Hill

End. This is where Jack Hourigan’s life changed dramatically.

Between 1845 and 1846, the Bungarribee property was leased to the East India Company as an

assembly depot for Walers for the military in India. Walers, originally known as “New South Walers”,

were a breed of riding horse.

The acquisition of these horses was the responsibility of Cavalry officers Captain William W

Apperley, Captain Arbuthnot W Dallas (16th Bengal Grenadiers, died in India in 1849) and Veterinary

Surgeon Robert B Parry. Their families lived in the Bungarribee homestead.

A swarthy looking lad of average height, Jack Hourigan became a fighting drunk after a drink or

two. During one of these inebriated episodes, he attracted the attention of the East India men who

offered him the opportunity of lining his pockets. In 1846, Apperley, Dallas and Parry set up a boxing

match at Bungarrabee [sic] “at the back of Lumpy Dean’s crib” and this is where Hourigan “polished

off Joe Shaw” in forty-five rounds in forty-five minutes. This particular match was to become famous

in Australia’s boxing history.

Wearing a yellow and green outfit, Jack Hourigan competed in the boxing ring under the catchy

names of “Bungarribee Jack” and “Haddygaddy” (Haddigaddy). His last recorded fight was in 1849

after which he retired from the ring, became a family man, owned an oyster shop in Pitt Street, Sydney

and trained young pugilists. One journalist wrote that Jack “was as good a gentleman as any in the

land”.

From that point, Jack Hourigan slipped into obscurity.

ABORIGINAL TOMAHAWKS

19

In 1868, the Inspector General of Police placed notices in both the Australia and New Zealand

Police Gazettes, seeking a man by the name of John Hourigan, known as “Captain Apperley’s

Bungarribee Jack”, a pugilist, and the former groom to Captain Apperley of the “Honorable East India

Company”. According to the notice, the last anyone had heard of him was in Beechworth, Victoria.

That is, until the 1870s when the newspapers published the three news items mentioned above.

Was John Hourigan, the man who rode around Hill End and Bungarribee in the 1840s, the same

man as the bushranger “Bungarribee Jack” or the murdered “Paddy Haddigaddy” of the 1870s?

One cannot ignore the similarities between the two characters − their names (Bungarribee Jack

and Haddygaddy), their facial features (swarthy complexion and Aboriginal), their profession (a boxer

and “a noted pugilist”), their alcoholism (“fighting drunk”) and their age (“advanced in years”. In 1875,

John Hourigan would have been aged around 55 years old).

There were two other coincidences. The people who attended the trial of Jacky Whyman for the

murder of Paddy Haddigaddy in 1875 were surprised that “All the parties are very intelligent and speak

English fluently.” That would be easy to believe if John Hourigan was living with them.

The last piece of the puzzle is the name “Paddy Haddygaddy” which infers that the native who

was murdered was Irish. John Hourigan was an Irishman.50

Over the following years, there were only two incidences of local bushranging that were reported

in the newspapers.

In 1883, a young bushranger broke into several places at Eastern Creek and stole a few items but

did not take any money. He escaped by walking along the railway line to the Blue Mountains where he

continued his thievery. His last break and enter was of a house in Glenbrook from which he stole a

revolver. He then walked to the Weatherboards (now called Wentworth Falls) and was about to fire the

stolen gun when he was captured.51

The final incidence of so-called “bushranging” occurred on the Western Road at Toongabbie in

1935 when two bushrangers held up old Thomas Irwin. After threatening to blow his brains out, they

forced Thomas to hand over his ₤3 pension. Mr Irwin told a passing stranger, who was, by chance, an

off-duty policeman. He quickly organised a hunt for the men who were arrested at Prospect twenty

minutes later.52

By the 1950s, an epidemic of suburbia had crept over the countryside where forests once grew,

convicts laboured and died, and wild bushrangers furtively lurked and murdered.

With the passing of time, our bushrangers, and their exploits, have all but been forgotten. Perhaps

this project will spotlight their place in our history, and more importantly, in the history of Doonside,

Bungarribee, Eastern Creek, Rooty Hill, Prospect, Seven Hills and Blacktown.

20

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