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| William Strutt (English, 1825–1915) Bushrangers, Victoria, Australia, 1852, 1887 |
What are your favourites? Here’s my list:
Jack Donohoe
Wild Colonial Boy
The Death of Ben Hall
Bold Ben Hall
The Streets of Forbes
Dunn, Gilbert and Ben Hall
Frank Gardiner
Stringybark Creek
Ballad of the Kelly Gang
My Name is Edward Kelly
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But there are a whole lot more to pick from. Chloe and Jason Roweth have a couple of hundred in their repertoire and there might even be a few more lurking out there in folklore.
Take the once-mysterious ‘Johnny Troy’, for instance. There were several incidental mentions of him and his deeds in historical documents and folklore. He featured briefly in a poem titled ‘The Convict’s Tour to Hell’, probably composed by ‘Frank the Poet’ (Francis McNamara), in or before 1839.
But that was about all anyone knew of this Irish bushranger until the 1950s, when American folksong collectors began to hear a ‘Johnny Troy’ ballad – mainly among lumber jacks. It seems that while Johnny Troy’s vigorous song had faded away in Australia, it had been well received by the Americans, who often sang it together with a couple of other Australian bushranger ballads, ‘Jack Donohoe’ and ‘The Wild Colonial Boy’. It is likely that these songs reached America during the California gold rushes, which explains how they got there. But there was still no news of the lost bushranger in Australia. Until some solid research by the late Stephan Williams turned up the whole true history of Johnny Troy.
You can read the full story on my Gristly History blog. You can also read some very interesting articles about bushrangers, murder ballads and associated delights on English journalist and author Paul Slade’s excellent website at PlanetSlade
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| The hunt for the Governor gang of bushrangers. A posse of mounted police, aboriginal trackers and district volunteers (SLNSW) |