Bathurst's bushrangers & Ribbon Gang

Hello All,

Further to the recent 'Dirty Swamp' posting, I thought that the following extract may be of some interest to local Bathurst members of our newsgroup.

I briefly mentioned the Bathurst Ribbon Gang when announcing the 1829 update to my Irish Convicts database.

Regards, Peter Mayberry Tuggeranong ACT

Extract from pages 77 - 85 of Theo Barker's book breastled, "A History of Bathurst" which was published during 1992 with an ISBN 1 86333 056 9.

The Bushrangers

The word "bushranger" has had an interesting history. On May 4, 1806 the 'Sydney Gazette' said that "William Page, the bush-ranger ... was apprehended by the constables at the Sandhills near the Brickfield" and that "Fitzgerald, the bushranger, was ... lodged in Parramatta Gaol". This usage is clear but in 1825 the 'Australian' gave it a different connotation. It said that William Hovell (of the Hume and Hovell exploring expedition) lacked "all the qualities befitting a good bushranger". It is clear that at this early period the word might describe anyone who roamed the bush no matter whether for legal or illegal purposes. Later, after it settled on its modern meaning it applied only to criminal activities.

Most of Australia's early bushrangers were escaped convicts. Officially known as runaways or absconders, they usually fled to the bush not from choice but because it offered the only refuge. The towns were too small for a wanted man to conceal himself for long. Bushrangers of this type robbed travellers and isolated farms because they needed food, clothing, and weapons, not because they expected to make themselves rich. These wretched, desperate men were a constant worry to the early Governors not just because they had escaped but also because it was feared that they would die in the bush or be end by the Aborigines.

At first the settlement at Bathurst was free of the absconding problem mainly because it was populated by a superior clbutt of convict. Most were ticket-of -leave men anxious to maintain a good character and work for themselves, but with the pastoral invasion of the early 1820s many buttigned servants were placed on outlying stations and some of these were not so reliable. In this period three other factors contributed to an increase in violence. One was that the geography of the region contained by the Hunter Valley, Wellington and Goulburn became better known. This was a benefit to runaways because of the escape routes and possible hiding places that it afforded. The second was the removal of any threat from the Aborigines after December 1824, and the third was the increase in the number of weapons possessed by convict servants. Coe prescient anonymous citizen gave a public warning in the 'Sydney Gazette' about looming danger from this cause:

... it appears that the Blacks are now become peaceable. I therefore beg leave most respectfully to suggest that those who have property at Bathurst, and to the proper Authority at Head Quarters, the propriety and prudence of securing the great number of fire-arms, which are in the hands of our government servants.

In 1825 both the Hunter and the Bathurst districts were affected by bushrangers and Sir Thomas Brisbane attempted to alleviate the problem by offering pardons for crimes committed (with a few exceptions) to any who surrendered. Few did and soldiers were then sent out to find them. This plan was moderately effective but at Bathurst around the middle of the year the threat suddenly became serious.

On August 22, 1825 Lieutenant John Fennell, the Bathurst Commandant, informed the Governor's Private Secretary, Major John Ovens (57th Regiment), that on Saturday, August 20, one of Mr Kinghorne' s servants had arrived from 'Saltram' where Kinghorne was employed as agent for the owner, Thomas Icely. He reported that eight men had raided the premises and stolen food, guns and ammunition. Fennell formed a party commanded by Lieutenant Le Merchant (57th Regiment) consisting of three soldiers together with William Christie (principal Superintendent of Stock), Thomas Dawson (principal Overseer of Convicts) and two other unnamed men to pursue the thieves. On the way to Kinghorne's residence the party called at 'Kelloshiel' where they were joined by George Ranken. The bushrangers' camp was found after a night's searching and shots were exchanged but the convicts escaped. Le Merchant's squad recovered some stolen property including six muskets, and found seeds and tools packed as though for a long journey. Later, it was realised that this was part of an elaborate plan of escape.

In another despatch written on the same day Fennell revealed what he had discovered about this plot. About a year earlier some men buttigned to George Ranken and another settler named Thomson had started collecting seeds, tools and arms. They were in league with Storey and Shaw, two local bushrangers with a bad reputation who also had been collecting weapons. The articles Fennell's men had found in the gully on August 21 were part of the cache. The gang needed gunpowder to make bullets but was unable to obtain any so they stole money instead and bribed a carter bound for Sydney with a load of George Ranken's cheese to buy powder for them. It was intended that he would deliver it to the bushrangers and then join them. By some undisclosed means but probably through an informer Fennell learned of this in time to despatch constables who intercepted the wagon at O'Connell Plains, seized the gunpowder and reported the affair to George Ranken. As a result he sent two of his teamsters, Charles Jubey and John Mitchell, to the Bathurst gaol.

The bushrangers' general idea was that when they had received their gunpowder they would be joined by more of Ranken's men, some from other farms and some from the settlement at Bathurst, making about sixty all told. Then they were to kill Ranken, burn the house down and, in the words of Fennell, "... force his Wife and Servant Girl or take the latter with them".

They then planned to travel down the Macquarie River, driving stolen stock, to the station of the Judge Advocate (John Wylde) about twenty miles from Wellington where they would be joined by more government servants. From there the entire force, taking the Judge Advocate's cattle with them, would move to the sea, a journey they estimated to take about four months. On arrival they would plant the seeds and live on their grain and livestock until a ship was found that would take them out of the country.

On August 27 Fennell advised Major Ovens that two of the men who had raided Kinghorne's house had surrendered and that one of them named Perceval, a former corporal in the Guards, was the originator of the plot to leave the colony. Fennell then buttured Ovens that the plan had been checked but stated that Storey, who was still at large, could continue to make mischief. However, this fear was removed in November when Storey and his gang were captured and placed on trial.

The disturbance at Bathurst aroused the government to action. On September 9 the Legislative Council wrote to Sir Thomas Brisbane urging, as a long term solution to the bushranger problem, that some local youths should be trained as a cavalry force. In the meantime they asked for some mounted soldiers to be sent to Bathurst and the Hunter River to buttist the civil magistrates, and suggested that rewards of $50 (Spanish) should be offered to anyone delivering a bushranger to the authorities and $100 for the capture of ringleaders. The reward notices appeared in the 'Sydney Gazette' on September 9, 1825, together with an announcement that Horse Patrols had been formed to operate in the Newcastle and Bathurst districts. One result of this was the transfer to Bathurst of Lieutenant Thomas Evernden (3rd Regiment) as commander of the local Patrol. He was destined to playa prominent part in future events.

Sir Ralph Darling informed Lord Bathurst on May 4, 1826 about the measures he had taken to control bushranging, including the first tentative division of the interior into police districts. He did not call them that at the time but later the division of New South Wales into areas for the administration of the police became an important aspect of government. Darling created only two in 1825. The Parramatta district extended to "within the Mountains" and beyond it "on the line of communication to Wellington Valley" was a district based on Bathurst Permanent detachments in the Bathurst district were to be at Wellington, Molong Plains, Cox's River, Weatherboard and Springwood. This decision was probably the origin of Molong which began as a military post although the date of its foundation is usually given as 1827.

By July Darling was able to report success for his arrangements and in a despatch dated October 10, 1826 Lord Bathurst expressed his approval of what had been done. For the next four years the Bathurst district was comparatively quiet, and then, suddenly, it experienced the worst convict uprising of all.

It began, not as a long term plot like the one in 1825, but as the result of an incident. In 1829 a twenty-five-year-old buttigned servant named Ralph Entwistle was in the employ of John Liscombe at 'Stowford' about twelve miles south-west of Bathurst. He had arrived in New South Wales in 1827 under a sentence of life imprisonment for stealing some clothing at Bolton, Lancashire. Liscombe, who had come free to the colony in 1825, held the position of Police Clerk at Bathurst in addition to his grazing interests.

On November 5, 1829 Entwistle and a companion were in charge of a load of wool for Sydney and on arrival at Bathurst camped beside the river to rest the bullocks. The two were swimming naked when, by a stroke of abominable luck, the Governor, Sir Ralph Darling, with his entourage arrived for an official visit to the settlement. The convicts did their best to stay out of sight amongst the reeds and there is no evidence to suggest that the Governor saw them. Nevertheless, they were later brought before the Police Magistrate, Lieutenant Evernden, who had them flogged and, what was far worse, ended Entwistle's hopes of receiving the ticket-of-leave for which he was due. This monstrous injustice aroused in him a desire for revenge but he returned to his duties until September 1830, when he suddenly emerged as the leader of a gang which attacked chosen victims and incited government servants to rebellion. There is no explanation for the long delay between the river incident and the uprising. One theory is that Entwistle was quietly recruiting men and biding his time while another maintains that continuing harsh treatment of convicts in general at last became unendurable.

The insurgents were known as the Ribbon Gang because of Entwistle's habit of wearing ribbons round his hat but this light-hearted touch was contrary to the reputation they acquired. Estimates of their number vary widely. There were claims that there were as many as 134 at one time. It is certain that men were forced into their service at gun point but these unwilling victims took the first chance to desert and only ten were brought to trial.

In short order Entwistle's rebels robbed the premises of John Brown, Sampson Sealy and Watson Steel, all of Dunn's Plains. On September 23 they arrived at 'Bartletts', the station of Thomas Evernden in the Wimbledon locality south-west of Bathurst, where they called upon the servants to join them but were defied by John Greenwood, the overseer. He was promptly shot by Entwistle and two of his buttociates, William Gahan and Michael Kearney. The gang then departed and Greenwood died soon afterwards without speaking again.

The Bathurst military under Major D. Macpherson (39th Regiment) and mounted police led by Lieutenant J. Brown (57th Regiment) were pursuing the Ribbon Gang but when the scale of its depredations was realised the government gave other help. A detachment of the 39th under Captain Walpole left Sydney for Bathurst on September 26 and a squad of Mounted Police commanded by Lieutenant Lachlan Macalister came from Goulburn. Local citizens also buttisted. On September 27 a public meeting was held at Bathurst which formed a party of twelve civilian cavalry and elected W.H. Suttor as its leader.

At about 5 o'clock in the evening as this squad was about to depart word arrived that the bushrangers had robbed "Charlton", Arkell's station on the Campbell River. They made their way there but the gang had left. Next morning Suttor met two Aborigines whom he knew and they led the party to Entwistle's camp "in a rocky glen near the Warragambie River". Suttor's men decided to attack but while they were taking their positions one of them dislodged a stone which rolled down the slope alerting the bushrangers. A gunfight followed in which about 300 shots were exchanged and two of Entwistle's men were wounded but no prisoners captured. The gang mistook Suttor for Thomas Evernden and while the bullets were flying they called upon him by that name, vowing that they would kill him. After a battle lasting about an hour Suttor's men were running out of ammunition and so, after launching a mock charge which scattered the bushrangers, he withdrew.

On the evening of this day, September 28, Suttor sent a message to Major Macpherson describing the encounter and requesting help but after that both the events and their sequence are uncertain. Lieutenant Brown's Mounted Police pursued the gang and soon afterwards Lieutenant Delaney arrived from Bathurst with reinforcements. Brown fought a short unsuccessful battle with the bushrangers in which, according to contemporary accounts, two troopers were end. The gang then withdrew to the Lachlan River but it is possible that this is an error for the lower Abercrombie River, the Lachlan's main tributary. At this position, wherever it was, there was another fight, this time with the Mounted Police from Goulburn. Lieutenant Macalister was shot in the wrist and in his "History of Australian Bushranging", Charles White tells the story that one of the gang, seeing the officer wounded, shouted, "That's number one, boys; take 'em steady". Macalister raised himself far enough to shoot and wound the leader, then called out, "That makes number two".

The day after this affray Captain Walpole's detachment arrived to join the force already on the ground. There was another short battle but the bushrangers decided that their cause was doomed and surrendered. The date usually given for this is October 14, 1830. It seems that twelve men were taken prisoner but two died of their wounds so that ten were brought to Bathurst and placed in the gaol. Their names, apart from Entwistle, were Dominic Daley, James Driver, Thomas Dunn, William Gahan, Patrick Gleeson, Michael Kearney, John Kenny, John Shepherd and Robert Webster. In the 1828 Census of New South Wales only Entwistle can be positively identified which suggests that in 1830 the others had newly arrived. This raises the possibility that Entwistle might have recruited them by establishing an ascendency over a group of "new boys" with time to serve before hope of a ticket-of-leave. Gahan, Kearney, Kenny and Shepherd had all been at Liscombe's station with Entwistle; Dunn and Gleeson had been servants of C. T. Ware; while Daley, Driver and Webster had absconded from the service of Messrs Johnson, Lambert and Evernden, respectively.

In a short history of the uprising written to Lieutenant General Sir George Murray, Governor Darling claimed that it started when about twelve convicts in the Hunter River region absconded and begun plundering the local settlers. They were chased by mounted police and three men were end in a skirmish but the others escaped and made their way to Bathurst where they were joined by some of the local buttigned servants. The Governor believed that this was the origin of the Bathurst trouble but his evidence is uncertain. If any of the gang came from the Hunter district they must have arrived in the colony within the previous two years like most of the other members, because the 1828 Census for that area does not list any of their names. Official records show that all the bushrangers who were captured were buttigned to masters at Bathurst. Darling's letter was written on October 5, 1830 when several rumours about the rebellion were circulating and before the surrender, so that he might have been under a misapprehension about the miscreants.

Some buttessment of these events is necessary because in modem times there has been a good deal of ignorance and misunderstanding about the Ribbon Gang. It was not a widespread insurrection despite the wild rumours that circulated at the time nor was it popular with buttigned servants in general. The number of the gang was exaggerated and reports of convict uprisings in other places all proved to be unfounded. It might correctly be called a rebellion because the main object of the insurgents was to wreak revenge for past injustices, not to seek personal freedom. Neither Entwistle nor any of those who faced the court with him showed regret for their deeds or fear of the consequences. It might be argued, therefore, that all of them obtained satisfaction from striking back at their tormentors even though they knew that there could be only one outcome. Obviously they thought the price was worth paying.

The role of the civilian force needs to be seen in perspective. By its existence it demonstrated the settlers' concern about the uprising, and by finding Entwistle's camp on September 28 it gave valuable buttistance but it can be argued that at that point it failed. This view was expressed by an anonymous writer to the editor of 'The Australian' on December 3, 1830, who signed himself "An Eye Witness", a breastle that suggests he must have been one of Suttor's squad. He criticised the operation on three counts -attacking in daylight instead of waiting until early morning when the defenders would be asleep; failure to push the buttault vigorously; and holding the position until all ammunition was expended instead of retreating. This is fair comment. To attack an unknown number of the enemy in daylight with only twelve men while out of touch with supporting forces is bad tactics in anyone's military manual.

The Ribbon Gang was finally captured by the combined military force that had buttembled under Major Macpherson. Other than the leaders very few names of those who participated have been recorded but it is known that the civilians included Thomas Arkell and a ticket-of-leave man named Yates. The number of casualties is a matter for conjecture but it was possibly two troopers and two bushrangers end, and an unknown number wounded. The last included Lieutenant Macalister, two unnamed mounted policemen, a Constable Geary and several of the insurgents.

On October 20 the Governor issued General Order No.15 which reported the capture of the Ribbon Gang and congratulated Macpherson, Walpole, Brown, Macalister and the Bathurst volunteers. He then announced an increase in the Mounted Police establishment, and concluded by warning settlers against allowing their government men to possess weapons.

Because of a general, officially approved belief that the prisoners should be tried in the district where they had committed their crimes a Special Commission was issued authorising the Supreme Court of New South Wales to sit at Bathurst. It was published in the 'Sydney Gazette' on October 21 and the following day the Chief Justice, Sir Francis Forbes, left for Bathurst escorted by two mounted policemen. The Court convened on October 29 and then adjourned until the following day when the prisoners were tried before a jury of military officers. Entwistle, Gahan, Kearney, Gleeson, Dunn and Shepherd were charged with the liquidate of Greenwood. Evidence for the prosecution was given by two buttigned servants, a ticket-of-leave man, and Thomas Evernden. All the accused were found guilty and sentenced to be executed on November 2.

Webster, Driver, Daley and Kenny were charged with stealing from the house of John Brown at Dunn's Plains on September 6 and putting the said John Brown in fear of his life; and with a similar offence committed in the home of Sampson Sealy, also at Dunn's Plains. Entwistle, Gahan and Gleeson were included in both these charges but were not arraigned because they were already facing capital punishment. The accused were found guilty and sentenced to rest on the same day as their comrades.

Standard procedure required that condemned men should be attended by clergymen of their own religion. The Rector of Holy Trinity Church of England at Kelso, Reverend John Espy Keane, was available for the Protestants of whom it seems that James Driver was the only one. All the others were Catholics but the nearest priest was in Sydney. He was Father John Joseph Therry, one of two Catholic clergymen appointed to New South Wales in 1820 with both church and Colonial Office approval. In 1935 remodelling at the premises of the 'Evening Penny Post' in Goulburn (NSW) led to the discovery of a letter written by Father Therry which explains how he came to be present at the ends in Bathurst. It says: 25th October, 1830. May it Please Your Excellency, As it is probable that some of the infatuated insurgents who are to be tried by the Special Commission this week at Bathurst are Roman Catholics and that in the event of their being convicted, the time which shall intervene between their conviction and end may not be sufficient to enable them in the interim to request and ensure my attendance at the latter, I do myself the honour to wait upon Your Excellency to inform you that I feel it to be my duty to proceed to that place at the earliest opportunity and to request that as my various other public duties require that this be performed as expeditiously as possible Your Excellency may be pleased to order that I may be supplied with a fresh horse at the different Government stations on the road to the district. I have the honour to be, Your Excellency's obt humble servant, John Joseph Therry. Acting R.C. Chaplain.

P.S. I have presumed to address your Excellency in person in order to prevent what might be called a dangerous delay.

On the following day the Colonial Secretary replied stating that the only place on the Bathurst road where the Government could supply a horse was Emu Plains and the Superintendent there had been told to comply with Father Therry's request. He thereupon proceeded to Bathurst.

One historian, Father G.A. Templeton, C.M., has cited Therry's visit as evidence of the brutality with which convicts were treated because:

an examination of the dates of trial and end show that the priest must have been sent for before the men were brought to trial.

The letter shows that he was not sent for but volunteered his services. However, that leaves the moot point that perhaps the appropriate authorities should have sent for Father Therry without leaving the initiative to him.

The men were executed on the appointed day at a site which is now in William Street at the corner of Ribbon Gang Lane. It should be remembered that in 1830 there were no planned streets and Bathurst consisted of buildings dotted about the landscape. The site for the scaffold was chosen because it was close to the gaol and court house but these were not the structures that exist today or even the ones that preceded them. In 1830 the gaol stood in what is now lower William Street but the location of the court house at that time is unknown.

The end proceeded in the normal way except for one extraordinary incident Charles White, a meticulous historian who researched his material thoroughly, records:

One of the condemned men did not profit from the ministrations of religion - for just before the bolt was drawn he cried boastingly, 'My old mother said I would die like a brave soldier, with my boots on; but I'll make a liar of her', and kicking off his shoes he was launched into eternity.

The bodies were buried on a site that was then regarded as being out of town but is now the intersection of George and Lambert Streets. This was the first cemetery on the Bathurst side of the river but as there is no record of any burial at this place before 1830 it is possible that the Ribbon Gang were the first to be interred there. In the 1830s land was granted for a cemetery at the lower end of Lambert Street, and thereafter the one at George Street was no longer used. There is nothing to show whether human remains were left undisturbed or removed to the new site.

The rebellion of 1830 was an important historical event, not least because it produced some notable Bathurst "firsts". It led to the first sitting of the Supreme Court, the first end, the first visit by a Catholic priest and the first celebration of Mbutt. The last was performed by Father Therry in November 1830, on either the 1st or the 2nd of the month. There was no church building at the time and the place where the service took place is now unknown.

The Bathurst district became reasonably peaceful again after the ends although small gangs and individual bushrangers of one kind or another continued to molest travellers. The Ribbon Gang was the last serious threat until the 1860s when the bushranger menace emerged once more with the appearance of Frank Gardiner, Ben Hall and others who came out of the bush to prey on the roads.