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John Massey Thompson (born c. 1847) was an Australian bushranger and member of Captain Thunderbolt's first gang. Thompson participated in various raids and robberies until April 1865, when he was seriously wounded in a gunfight and captured by the police. He escaped prison and returned to crime before disappearing into obscurity.
Born in London, England, Thompson was one of 16 children of William and Eliza Thompson (née Massey). The family migrated to New South Wales, Australia in 1852. Thompson worked as a carpenter on Terrehihi Station. In early 1865, after threatening to shoot his employer, Thompson took to the bush and fell in with Captain Thunderbolt, one of the colony's most notorious bushrangers. Joined by accomplices Mary Ann Bugg and Thomas "The Bull" Hogan, they formed a gang that operated mostly in the region around the Culgoa and Bokhara rivers, in the north-western plains. [1]
Thompson was involved in raids on several stations and hotels, as well as various other robberies. In April 1865, he was shot several times during a shootout with the police at the Millie Inn, near Wee Waa, leading to his arrest. The other bushrangers escaped unharmed. Against expectations, Thompson survived his wounds, and was convicted of robbery and sentenced to 15 years. He escaped Tamworth Gaol on 10 June, but was soon recaptured, and spent periods of his incarceration at Cockatoo Island, Darlinghurst Gaol, Parramatta Gaol and Berrima Gaol. [1]
In June 1872, Thompson's sentence was commuted, and he was released. He soon returned to a life of crime, engaging in robberies and other criminal activities in Sydney. He spent most of the following decades in and out of prison before eventually fading into obscurity in the 1890s. [1]
Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in the Australian bush between the 1780s and the early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia, and applied to transported convicts who had escaped into the bush to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under arms" as a way of life, using the bush as their base.
Frederick Wordsworth Ward, better known by the self-styled pseudonym of Captain Thunderbolt, was an Australian bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island, and also for his reputation as the "gentleman bushranger" and his lengthy survival, being the longest-roaming bushranger in Australian history.
Mary Ann Bugg was a Worimi bushranger, one of two well-documented women bushrangers in mid-19th century Australia. She was an expert horse rider and bush navigator who travelled with her bushranging partner and lover Captain Thunderbolt.
The Clarke gang was a group of bushrangers active in the mid-1860s in the southern goldfields of New South Wales, Australia. The membership of the gang fluctuated over time, the two core members being brothers Thomas and John Clarke, from the Braidwood district.
Thomas Jeffrey was a convict bushranger, murderer, and cannibal in the mid-1820s in Van Diemen's Land. In contemporary newspaper reports of his crimes, he was frequently described as a 'monster'. Jeffrey and three other convicts absconded from custody in Launceston in December 1825 and were subsequently responsible for five murders characterised by extreme violence, including the killing of a five-month-old infant. Another victim was a member of the gang, killed while he slept and his flesh consumed by his companions. Jeffrey was captured in January 1826; he was tried in Hobart and convicted of various of his crimes. Jeffrey was executed by hanging at Hobart in May 1826.
William Westwood, also known as Jackey Jackey, was an English-born convict who became a bushranger in Australia.
John Dunn was an Australian bushranger. He was born at Murrumburrah near Yass in New South Wales. He was 19 years old when he was hanged in Darlinghurst Gaol. He was buried in the former Devonshire Street Cemetery in Sydney.
Andrew George Scott, also known as Captain Moonlite, though also referred to as Alexander Charles Scott and Captain Moonlight, was an Irish-born New Zealand immigrant to the Colony of Victoria, a bushranger there and in the Colony of New South Wales, and an eventual and current day Australian folk figure.
Robbery Under Arms is a bushranger novel by Thomas Alexander Browne, published under his pen name Rolf Boldrewood. It was first published in serialised form by The Sydney Mail between July 1882 and August 1883, then in three volumes in London in 1888. It was abridged into a single volume in 1889 as part of Macmillan's one-volume Colonial Library series and has not been out of print since.
Frank Pearson was an Australian bushranger, operating under the pseudonym Captain Starlight.
Moonlite is a 1910 Australian bushranger film about Captain Moonlite, played by John Gavin, who also directed for producer H.A. Forsyth. It was also known as Captain Moonlite and is considered a lost film.
The Gardiner–Hall Gang was an informal group of bushrangers who roamed the central west of the Colony of New South Wales, Australia in the 1860s. Named after leaders Frank Gardiner and Ben Hall, the gang was involved in numerous shootouts and robberies, including Australia's largest ever gold robbery, at Eugowra Rocks. The gang formed in 1861 and its demise came with the execution of John Dunn in 1866.
Thomas Frederick Lowry, better known as Fred Lowry, was an Australian bushranger whose crimes included horse theft, mail-coach robbery, prison escape, and assault with a deadly weapon. Lowry briefly rode with the Gardiner–Hall gang, but soon afterwards formed his own gang with John Foley.
John Foley was a bushranger and associate of Fred Lowry. In July 1863 they robbed several mail coaches, including the Mudgee mail robbery which netted £5,700 in bank-notes. Foley was captured several weeks later with bank-notes from the Mudgee mail in his possession. He was tried at Bathurst and sentenced to fifteen-years hard labour. Foley was released in 1873; he settled in the Black Springs district near Oberon and led a respectable life until his death in 1891.
Lawrence Cummins, known informally as Larry Cummins, was a bushranger who operated primarily in the districts surrounding the Abercrombie River. In July 1863 he participated in the Mudgee mail robbery led by Fred Lowry and John Foley. Soon afterwards Cummins and his younger brother John carried out several robberies. They were identified and John Cummins was apprehended; he was accidentally shot and killed while being escorted by police constables. Three weeks later Cummins was captured with his associate Lowry, in an encounter with the police which resulted in Lowry’s death. Cummins was sent to Berrima Gaol in late 1863, from where he escaped in November 1866 with another prisoner. From December 1866 to April 1867 Cummins carried out a series of audacious robberies. In April, during an attempted robbery of Webb's store on the Fish River in company with John Foran, he received a wound in the face from birdshot. He was captured soon afterwards and sentenced to thirty years hard labour and sent back to Berrima Gaol.
Bluecap was an Australian bushranger. Born and raised in New South Wales, he began bushranging in 1867, leading a gang responsible for robberies throughout the Riverina region. He suffered from ophthalmia, and earned his alias on account of a piece of cloth he wore to protect his eyes from sunlight. Captured in November 1867, Bluecap was tried and convicted of armed robbery. He was imprisoned in Parramatta Gaol and released in 1874.
Captain Thunderbolt's Death Site is a heritage-listed paddock in the Kentucky District, in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It is one of a group of historic sites labelled The Captain Thunderbolt Sites for their association with bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, along with Captain Thunderbolt's Rock, Blanch's Royal Oak Inn, and Captain Thunderbolt's Grave. Collectively, all properties were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 20 July 2012.
Blanch's Royal Oak Inn is the heritage-listed site of a former inn on the New England Highway in Kentucky, a village in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It is one of a group of historic sites labelled The Captain Thunderbolt Sites for their association with bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, along with Captain Thunderbolt's Rock, Captain Thunderbolt's Death Site, and Captain Thunderbolt's Grave. Collectively, all properties were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 20 July 2012.
Thunderbolt's Rock is a heritage-listed rock and now picnic site and tourist attraction located adjacent to the New England Highway in Uralla, a town in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as Split Rock and Big Rock. The property is owned by Uralla Shire Council. It is one of a group of historic sites labelled The Captain Thunderbolt Sites for their association with bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, along with Blanch's Royal Oak Inn, Captain Thunderbolt's Death Site, and Captain Thunderbolt's Grave. Collectively, all properties were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 20 July 2012.
Mrs Winter, a bushranger in nineteenth-century Australia, was briefly associated with John Tennant, the ‘Terror of Argyle’; she is believed to have been the convict Mary Winter.