Australian bushrangers 1788-1880 - 525

The first 'bushrangers' or frontier outlaws were escaped or time-expired convicts, who took to the wilderness - 'the bush' - in New South Wales and on the island of Tasmania.

Initially, the only Crown forces available were redcoats from the small, scattered garrisons, but by 1825 the problem of outlawry led to the formation of the first Mounted Police from these soldiers.

The gold strikes of the 1860s attracted a new group of men who preferred to get rich by the gun rather than the shovel.

The roads, and later railways, that linked the mines with the cities offered many tempting targets and were preyed upon by the bushrangers.