The Ben Hall Australian Bushranger and His Associates website is a comprehensive historical resource dedicated to the life and times of one of Australia's most notorious bushrangers, Ben Hall, and the remarkable cast of characters who shaped the bushranging era in colonial New South Wales.
Spanning the turbulent decades from the 1850s to the 1870s, a period often compared with the later legendary American Wild West, the website explores the exploits of Hall and his associates, including Frank Gardiner, widely regarded as the father of modern Australian bushranging, John Gilbert, Daniel Charters and John O'Meally.
Drawing upon contemporary newspaper reports, historical documents, police records, eyewitness accounts and extensive original research, the website seeks to separate historical fact from folklore. It examines the lives of the bushrangers, their daring robberies, violent encounters and eventual downfalls, while exploring the social and political conditions that gave rise to bushranging in colonial Australia.
Equally important are the men who pursued them. The website chronicles the relentless efforts of colonial law enforcement officers, including Sir Frederick Pottinger, Inspector Davidson, Superintendent Morrisset, Sergeant Condell and Aboriginal police tracker Trooper William 'Billy' Dargin. Their courage, determination and often dangerous work played a significant role in bringing the bushranging era to an end.
More than a collection of bushranging stories, this website is an ongoing effort to preserve, investigate and document an extraordinary chapter of Australian history. It offers history enthusiasts, researchers, students and curious readers an opportunity to explore the people, events and controversies that continue to fascinate Australians more than 160 years later.
Created and maintained by Mark Matthews, the website is freely accessible and continually updated as new historical evidence, research and discoveries come to light.
Its purpose is simple: to preserve the history, challenge the myths and bring the remarkable stories of Australia's bushranging past to life.
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From left to right: Henry
Manns (hanged), Alex Fordyce (Sentenced to death commuted to life), John
Gilbert (shot dead), Frank Gardiner (exiled to the USA), Daniel Charters
(informer), John Bow (Sentenced to death commuted to life), Ben Hall (shot
dead); Sitting: John O'Meally (shot dead) (Mural from Eugowra.) |
Police Report, Forbes, Saturday, May 12th 1865
Tuesday, 16 May 1865
"I suppose that four or five hundred persons visited the barracks, and I saw several females among the crowd. After the enquiry several parties availed themselves of an opportunity to get a lock of the bushranger's hair. His body was lying upon a stretcher in the south-west corner room of the building appropriated to the foot police. There was nothing forbidding in the countenance of Ben Hall, as he lay there still in death. In fact I heard the remark made several times, during the moment I was in the room, "What a handsome, face." He appeared to be a young man about twenty-eight, finely made, excellent features, lofty forehead, and fine brown hair. His whiskers and moustache were cut quite close and of a much lighter colour than the hair on his head. I heard many make the remark, "I have often seen that face somewhere, but cannot tell where." I have myself seen the face, but have no idea when and where."
18th May 1865
