Page 6 - eMuse Vol.9 No.07_Neat

into the carriage. The troopers now returned fire though the firing
frightened the horses which bolted into the scrub overturning the
coach .
Ambushed and hopelessly outnumbered the troopers withdrew.
Frank “Darkie” Gardiner — They had lost some of their arms, all of the horses and the entire
gold shipment, but they were all alive and determined to bring the
(1830 – 1903) bushrangers to justice.
Godfather of Bushranging, Having narrowly escaped capture, Gardiner decided it was high
Prince of the Tobeymen, time to retire from bushranging. With his mistress Kitty Brown, he
King of the Road discretly left the scene and went to Queensland where as Mr and
Mrs Frank Christie they ran a store and shanty at Apis Creek near
Rockhampton.
Before leaving, it is believed Gardiner hid his share proceeds of
the Eugowra Rock robbery and other robberies in a cave at Mary’s
Mont .
Back at Forbes at Forbes police quickly set out in pursuit of
the rest of the gang, with eleven troopers, two black trackers and
several civilian volunteers. The blacks tracked the bushrangers to-
wards the Wedden mountains, and came upon their recently oc-
cupied camp and some discarded mail .
The police commander, Sir Frederick Pottinger split his force
with Sergeant Sanderson, four men and a black tracker in a sepa-
rate group. Sanderson followed the fleeing bushrangers towards
the Wedden Mountains despite efforts to disguise their tracks, until
eventually a lone rider was seen moving down a steep bush track.
He was intercepted and, during a minor skirmish, one of his
horses was captured and a considerable amount of the proceeds
were retaken, including a large amount of gold, and several fire-
arms .
Frank Gardiner Pursuit was maintained until dark, when Sanderson considered
GARDINER (CHRISTIE), FRANCIS (1830-1903?), bushranger, was it prudent to return to Forbes to refresh their horses and secure
born in Scotland, son of Charles Christie and his wife Jane, née the gold .
Whittle. The family reached Sydney in the James in 1834 and set- Meanwhile, Pottinger and his men were following tracks to-
tled at Boro near Goulburn . wards Hay in the Riverina District to the southwest, and towards
Frank went to Victoria where in October 1850 he was sentenced Victoria where he knew Gardiner felt comfortable.
to five years’ hard labour at Geelong for horse stealing. Next March The trail had gone cold, but in a chance encounter on the road
he escaped from Pentridge gaol and returned to New South Wales. home they met three well dressed young men mounted and lead-
In March 1854 he had changed his name to Francis Clarke and ing a horse each .
was convicted at Goulburn on two charges of horse stealing and Pottinger asked for proof that the horses were indeed theirs and
imprisoned on Cockatoo Island. a melee resulted with two of the men arrested at gunpoint, one of
In December 1859 he was given a ticket-of-leave for the Carcoar them escaped. A small quantity of gold and some pounds quickly
district, but broke parole and went south and by the end of 1860 as identified as being proceeds from the robbery were recovered.
Frank Gardiner he had a butchery at Lambing Flat but skipped bail. Returning towards Forbes the next day the group was confront-
Known as ‘The Darkie’, he began highway robbery on the ed by seven armed bushrangers intent on rescuing their mates, and
Cowra Road. In July 1861 at a sly grog shop near Oberon he shot recovering the gold and money. Some shooting occurred, and the
and wounded Sergeant John Middleton; Trooper Hosie was also two bushrangers escaped, and Pottinger withdrew keeping the re-
wounded although allegedly bribed to let Gardiner escape. covered property secure .
Gardiner joined up with Johnny Piesley; after ranging the old La-
chlan Road they moved to the Weddin Mountains and were joined
by John Gilbert, Ben Hall and others. The police under Sir Frederick
Pottinger could not catch the gang for it moved too rapidly aided
by “bush telegraphs”.
On 15 June 1862 at the Coonbong Rock near Eugowra, Gardin-
er’s gang held up the gold escort in the biggest gold robbery in
Australian history .
The coach driver, John Fagan, saw three bullock teams stopped
along the road, and had to negotiate a small gap, not realizing it
was a trap arranged by Frank Gardiner and his gang.
Suddenly they were confronted from behind the Eugowra Rocks
by a band of at least six armed outlaws dressed in red shirts, who
each fired a volley into the coach.
One round struck Sergeant Condell in the side knocking him
from the coach, and although several shots entered the carriage
the three troopers inside were not wounded. In the panic they
were unable to return fire for a few moments, while the six bandits Stage Coach hold-up at Eugowra Rock
withdrew to be replaced by another six who fired a second volley by Patrick William 1st January 1894
6 eMuse July 2020