‘After discovery of gold in 1854, a number of bad characters took to the bush who were satisfied to rob without offering violence, unless they were resisted. This class of a highway robber soon found sympathisers, for there was something romantic about boldly sticking up coaches and gold escorts, and fighting the police.’[1]
The story of a brave bushranger is a common trope in many Australian colonial narratives. Bushrangers are ascribed ‘some of the sturdy Republicanism of the modern Australians’.[2] One of these legendary bushrangers roving the Eastern colonies was Frank Gardiner. Gardiner gained notoriety for gentlemanly behavior during robberies, gifts to the poor and ‘humane’ approach to bushranging. As a result, he had numerous sympathisers and supporters among the small settler community, which made it difficult for the police to arrest him.
Gardiner, also Frank Christie or Clarke, was likely born in the colony in 1832, after his parents migrated to New South Wales from Argyle, Scotland.[3] The Story of the Australian Bushrangers (1899) traces his birth to Boro Creek, near Tarago.[4] In the 1850s, he went to the ‘diggings’ in Victoria. He was arrested in Ballarat for horse stealing, but little is known about his life before then. Following prison sentences in Geelong and later Cockatoo Island, Gardiner was released on a ticket-of-leave, a form of parole, in 1858. Two years later, he was arrested again on a warrant for cattle stealing in the Burrangong area. He did not remain in custody for long and on 14 May, Gardiner absconded from bail and took to bushranging.
New South Wales, Australia, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930. State Archives NSW; Roll: 5098
Gardiner spent three years in the bush. He was eventually arrested in Apin Creek near Rockhampton, where he lived with his partner Catherine (Kitty) Brown.[5] The tally of his bushranging was estimated to £21,000. After his arrest, Gardiner was escorted to Sydney and tried for unlawfully wounding with intent to murder and kill policemen John Middleton and William Hosie back in July 1861. The trial lasted over a few months. Initially, the prosecution failed to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt the intent to kill Middleton, and the jury returned the verdict of not guilty which was met with ‘perfect yell of delight, accompanied by clapping of hands’ in the courtroom.[6] Gardiner was further tried for ‘feloniously, unlawfully and maliciously wounding William Hosie with intent to thereby kill and murder him’ on the first count, and with intent to do grievous bodily harm, on the second.[7]
A Nominal Return of All Prisoners. Court of Criminal Jurisdiction: NSW returns of prisoners convicted 1866–69; Reel: 2429
Gardiner was found guilty on the first count and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour with first two years in irons. He was also sentenced to 10 years with hard labour for armed robbery of Horsington, and an added 7 for robbery of Hewett, totalling 32 years in prison. He was 32 years old at the time. Some thought the sentence was too harsh and ‘deprived a man of all hope.’[8]
F Clarke New South Wales, Australia, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930, SA NSW roll 860
Gardiner’s popularity did not wane even after 10 years’ imprisonment. In 1874, a petition was submitted to the NSW Parliament urging for Gardiner’s release citing his exemplary conduct and complete rehabilitation.[9]
However, Sydney Punch disagreed[10]:
In July of the same year, Gardiner was released conditionally from prison and a week later left for San Francisco, California. His celebrity status followed him to America[11]:
The years after Gardiner’s departure are filled with fantastical stories. In 1879, Evening News reported that he posted a letter to a person in Burrangong saying he has married ‘a wealthy American widow, and has comfortably located himself in Nevada.’[12] However, a few years later, Newcastle Morning Herald informed its readers that for years Gardiner kept a saloon or a bar in Pacific-street, San Francisco. The same newspaper also reported that he took to the roads instead and was ‘sticking up’ emigrant trains in the West, ‘though nothing authentic was known.’[13]
In 1888, Warwick Argus cited a Melbourne paper that ‘just been told by a Californian paper [that] before his capture he had been intimate with a young girl, fresh from England, who bore him a daughter’ and died before Gardiner’s release.[14] The gallant bushranger then left for America but only after he made suitable provisions for his daughter. In America, he set up a saloon on Kearney-street near Broadway in San Francisco, it ‘being the resort of seafaring men, especially those plying between that port and the colonies.’[15]
The Brisbane Courier added to the story by claiming that during all the time that Gardiner remained in San Francisco his conduct was good, ‘and the police never once had to complain of him or his saloon.’[16]
[1] ‘Rockhampton. In the Early Days. The First Decade. By Fitzroy’, The Capricornia, 16 Aug 1902, p. 9. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68869647
[2]Boxall, GE (1899). The Story of the Australian Bushrangers, Swann Sonnenschein & Co, London, p. 193.
[3] New South Wales, Australia, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930, SA NSW roll 860.
[4] Boxall, p. 193.
[5] NSWPG, 1864, p. 84.
[6] ‘Trial and Acquittal of Frank Gardiner’, Queanbeyan Age and General Advertiser, 26 May 1864, p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30634745
[7] ‘Trial and Conviction of Gardiner’, Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 19 Jul 1864, p. 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article123606318
[8] Boxall, p. 256.
[9]‘Petitions for Gardiner’s Release’, Australian Town and Country Journal, 16 May 1874, p. 10. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70474506
[10] Sydney Punch, 22 May 1874, p. 1 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article253225820
[11] ‘Interviewing Gardiner’, Glenn Innes Examiner and General Advertiser, 14 Apr 1875, p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article217834136
[12] ‘Frank Gardiner’, Evening News, 1 December 1879, p. 3.
[13] ‘Frank Gardiner’, Newcastle Morning Herald & Miners’ Advocate, 11 May 1887, p. 3.
[14] ‘Gardiner, The Bushranger’, Warwick Argus, 16 Oct 1888, p. 3.
[15] Ibid.
[16] ‘Sequel to a Bushranging Story’, Brisbane Courier, 10 Oct 1888, p. 6.
The article was researched and written by Dr Anastasia Dukova. The Queensland Police Museum is currently closed due to COVID19, with staff working remotely by email and phone. When reopened, hours of operation will be 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month. QPM is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Contact by email: museum@police.qld.gov.au
‘FROM the VAULT – Frank Gardiner, A Gentleman of Bad Character’ by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode