WILD COLONIAL BOYS
Skirmish games with Bushrangers in the Australian Gold Fields
Three solid gold scenarios set in the mid nineteenth century with
Bushrangers from down under.
Different things inspire us. I remember two illustrations from a short lived military modelling magazine of the 1980s whose name now escapes me. One showed what looked like a western gun fighter, a figure wearing a brown frock coat and low crowned hat checking the loads of a revolver. On the opposite page was a figure dressed in a blue coat, with a crushed kepi, legs covered in off white ridding breaches and black boots. He had a revolver in a flap over holster carried on a cross belt running from his right shoulder to his left hip and had a carbine in his hand. I was surprised to find that these were not figures from the American West but a bush ranger and police trooper from 1860s Australia.
A little research showed how prolific these “Bushrangers” were throughout the 1850s and 1860s which opened up a whole new world of gaming possibilities set within the British Empire but with elements of the Old West.
WHO WERE THE BUSHRANGERS?
The original “Bushrangers” were convicts who escaped from the British penal colony established in New South Wales in 1788. Known as “bolters”, they preferred the hazards of the wild, unexplored bush surrounding Sydney to the brutality of convict life. Some robbed settlers for food whilst others chose to fight alongside the indigenous Australians against the colonial authorities. Some bolters tried to cross the Blue Mountains in an effort to reach China, which at that time was commonly believed to be connected to Australia. Others turned to banditry and sought revenge on the British colonial authorities and the non convict settlers.
By the 1820s, the term “bushranger” had come to refer to criminals who took up “robbery under arms” using the bush as their base. Many saw themselves as “Toby Men” a term for a “highwayman.” The best known of these early bushrangers was Jack Donahue who attacked settlements outside Sydney from 1827 until he was fatally shot by a trooper in 1830. However, this first era of bushrangers declined with the end of penal transportations to Australia in the 1840s.
GOLDEN DAYS
It was the discovery of gold in Australia and the subsequent gold rushes which occurred between 1851 and the 1860s which led to the heyday of Bush ranging. The Colonial Authorities had long known that gold could be found in Australia but had suppressed the information for fear of destabilizing the population. However, in May 1851 Edward Hargraves, who had returned from the Californian goldfields where he had learnt new gold prospecting techniques, discovered a profitable gold seam in Orange, New South Wales. Before the end of the year, the gold rush had begun which quickly engulfed other parts of the state.
The subsequent gold rushes led to a huge influx of people from overseas. Australia’s total population
more than tripled from 430,000 in 1851 to 1.7 million in 1871. Many simply sought gold or brought new skills and professions with them. Others sought quick riches by preying on the “Diggers” as the miners came to be known, by theft or by running inns, gambling and houses or tents of “ill repute”.
The authorities tried to keep control of the situation by declaring that all minerals found were the property of the crown and by requiring prospectors and miners to purchase licences before beginning their explorations for gold. These had to be purchased whether they found gold or not. In addition, all gold found had to be handed over to government commissioners who weighed, assayed and paid the miners for the gold they brought in. The gold was then gathered and shipped to the nearest large towns and, of course, such shipments became targets for bushrangers.
This new wave of bushrangers were predominantly the Australian-born sons of former convicts or came from the families of poor class settlers, called “improvers” who could settle on land but had to work it and “improve it” before they could be given title to it. Most were drawn to a more glamorous life than mining or farming and took to robbing not only gold shipments but also small-town banks and coach services and were in many ways similar to the outlaws of the Old West. Frank Gardiner and Ben Hall led the most notorious gangs of the period in and around in the country districts of New South Wales.
ROBBERY UNDER ARMS
The most prolific bushranger was Ben Hall and his various associates who are attributed with making over 100 robberies from 1863 to 1865. Hall did not restrict his activities to robbing coaches or gold convoys. He and his gang regularly stole race horses and raided small settlements. For example, in October 1863 Hall and his two chief confederates, John Gilbert and John Dunn, seized the Robinson’s Hotel in Canowindra detaining any travellers and all of the townspeople at the hotel and locking up the town constable. Subsequently they raided the town of Bathurst and then returned a few days later to Canowindra, this time taking it over for three days. Their aim was always to emphasise that the gang could act with impunity and to belittle the police.
In terms of value the most audacious robbery had taken place on Sunday 15 June 1862 when Frank Gardiner with a gang of seven men, one of whom was Ben Hall, held up a gold coach with its escort of four police troopers on its way from Forbes to Bathurst.
The place chosen for the robbery was a gully north of Eugowra known as Eugowra Rocks. Here the coach was forced to reduce speed in order to negotiate a steep gully running down to a creek where it also had to avoid some large boulders. Gardiner’s gang ensured the coach would slow even further when they intercepted two bullock teams and made them stop in the middle of the road, forcing the drovers and their men to lie face down in the grass to appear drunk or asleep.
At about 3.30pm the coach arrived and began to slow to pass around the obstacles. Gardiner gave the signal to attack and the gang sprang out with their guns blazing. The coach driver, Jack Fagan, and four police jumped down and ran for the bush. Fagan was shot through his hat, and one trooper was shot in the groin. The coach horses then bolted tipping the coach onto its side. The bushrangers took 2,700 ounces of gold as well as banknotes with a combined total value of £14,000 from the wrecked coach (around £1.2 million in today’s terms.) After stuffing the bank notes into their clothes and saddle bags they loaded the gold onto the back of one of the coach horses and rode off through the bush before making camp.
A local land owner, Hanbury Clements, came across Fagan and the troopers and, after taking them to his homestead for first aid and a rest, he then rode the 27 miles to the town of Forbes in less than three hours to alert the authorities. The speed of his journey allowed the authorities to respond quickly and a police patrol with an indigenous native tracker rode out and located the bushranger camp.
However, the outlaws had chosen their site well and, spotting the patrol, quickly mounted up and rode off. Unfortunately most of the gold was still loaded on the back of the exhausted coach horse which slowed them down and with the police in pursuit they were forced to abandon the horse before riding off with only the bank notes. As a result, except for Gardiner and Hall’s
share, most of the gold from the robbery was recovered from the back of the abandoned horse.
LAW & ORDER
Law enforcement was the responsibility of the Mounted Police who tried their best to maintain law and order but their task was complicated by the isolated locations of the goldfields and by their numbers being decimated by troopers who had deserted their duties to join the gold rush.
The authorities decided to supplement their numbers by sending in members of the New South Wales Native Police, a force made up of indigenous Australians led by white Officers and NCOs and originally intended to protect the frontier from attacks by indigenous tribesmen. In addition regional magistrates were empowered to raise a new force, The Gold Fields’ Police. Recruited directly by the magistrates, the men they recruited were mainly ex-soldiers or in some cases ex-convicts. As a result the force quickly gained a bad reputation for harsh actions and brutality and the men were seemingly used more to enforce the purchase of licenses and the recovery of fines than in keeping law and order.
It was during this period that police officers were often referred to by the slang term “Traps”. Although the term may have originated earlier when drinking in a public house on a Sunday was unlawful and the Police used officers in disguise to “Trap” publicans who flouted the law, by the time of the gold rush the term referred to the police in general who were assumed to be using deceitful means to make arrests. I.e. they “Trapped” their victims. For example, as many miners avoided purchasing Gold licences they were often caught by the Police who had disguised themselves as fellow miners.
For the specific protection of Gold shipments the authorities also raised a special force formed from 125 soldiers and officers from the 40th regiment of foot. All
BELOW
The British soldiers come to arrest the Bush Ranger. These are Empress Miniatures from their New Zealand Wars range. 125 were selected for their ability to ride and it seems that none of the shipments they guarded were ever attacked.
Slowly these ad hoc arrangements were replaced and in 1862 the Police Regulation Act came into force placing all police forces in New South Wales and Victoria under the control of an Inspector General. From this point onwards the police were better organised and more able to cope with problems on the gold fields and with the bushrangers.
DEATH & PUNISHMENT
Unlike most bushrangers, Frank Gardiner saw the writing on the wall and, rather than continue with his activities, fled to Queensland where he opened a general store. However, he was recognised and reported to the police in Sydney who sent officers together with troopers from the New South Wales Native Police to arrest him despite him being outside their jurisdiction. Sentenced to 32 years hard labour Gardiner was released after serving only 10 years due to successful appeals by his two sisters with his release being conditional on his leaving the country.
In late 1874, Gardiner arrived in California having travelled via Hong Kong where he opened the Twilight Star Saloon in the Barbary Coast area of San Francisco. A couple of months later he relocated to Brannan St which was closer to the docks. The exact date and circumstances of his death are not known with any degree of certainty due to the destruction caused during the 1906 earthquake and the subsequent loss of records but stories of his fate range from him being buried in a pauper grave to a claim that he married a rich American widow and had two sons. Another rumour is that he died in Colorado in 1903. None have been proven.
As for Ben Hall, John Gilbert and John Dunn, in November 1864 Gilbert shot and killed Sgt. Parry during the robbery of a mail coach at Black Springs
Creek and then in January 1865 Dunn killed Constable Nelson when the gang raided a hotel in Collector. The murder of two police officers prompted the authorities to pass The Felons Apprehension Act. This declared Hall and his comrades to be “outside the law” so they could be killed by anyone at any time without warning.
At dawn on 5th May 1865 Hall was ambushed by eight well-armed policemen who shot him at least thirty times as he attempted to run away. He fell and, as he held himself up by a sapling, cried, “I am wounded; shoot me dead.” He died seconds later. His killing was controversial as the Felons Apprehension Act was not yet in force and many considered his death unlawful. However, at the subsequent inquest the police were, not unexpectedly, exonerated.
On 12th May 1865 Gilbert and Dunn were betrayed and a hut in which they were staying was surrounded by the police. Refusing to surrender, Gilbert and Dunn opened fire on the police as they ran from the hut in a flurry of shots, pushing through a bush fence and running a down to a nearby creek. Continuing to fire at the police Gilbert was shot and killed whilst Dunn initially escaped but was subsequently caught, tried and hanged on 19 March 1866.
DECLINE
This was not, of course the end of bushrangers in Australia but the growth of settlements, increased police efficiency, improvements in rail transport and communications technology, such as telegraphy, made it more difficult for bushrangers to evade capture. The swan song was probably the activities of the Kelly Gang led by Ned Kelly, who were captured during the shoot out at Glenrowan in 1880, two years after they were outlawed, but that is another story.
It is interesting to note that that just like Robin Hood in English folk law a number of bushrangers have become Australian folk heroes and symbols of rebellion against the authorities, admired for their bravery, rough chivalry and colourful personalities. However, in reality most historians agree that many bushrangers led “nasty, brutish and short” lives and that some were notorious for their cruelty and bloodthirsty nature rather than their charitable acts.
As for the title of this article, it comes from a traditional anonymous Irish-Australian ballad which tells of the life and death of a young Irish emigrant bushranger, the original Wild Colonial Boy, who “robs from the rich to feed the poor” and is killed by the authorities when he is killed from ambush.
CLOTHES & GUNS
The bushrangers wore whatever civilian clothes they liked. Predominately wearing hard wearing clothes suited to the bush, although they frequently stole fashionable clothes from their victims. In addition they favoured bright waistcoats, ties, cravats and even wore sashes. They wore riding boots of all descriptions and their head gear could vary from any type of wide brimmed hats to a type of brimmed hat woven from the “cabbage tree palm”. Often these were decorated with ribbons.
Bushrangers also liked to flaunt stolen items and often wore several rings or carried multiple watches. A great image of typical bushrangers can be found in the oil painting by William Strutt. Simply entitled “Bushrangers”, the painting shows the outlaws dividing their loot whilst the passengers from a mail coach, which is not shown on the canvas, look on helplessly. It sums up both the romanticism and the ruthlessness of these men.
Most bushrangers were well armed as firearms were plentiful in the gold fields, with rifled muzzle loading muskets, carbines and shotguns readily available for purchase. Hand guns were also available and although this was the period of cap and ball revolvers, single shot pistols and “Pepperpot” types were still used.
Obviously Colts were popular cap and ball (C&B) revolvers but these were supplemented by other manufacturer’s weapons. Many in Australia, especially the bushrangers, favoured an English revolver, the Tranter. This was a double-action, C&B revolver invented around 1856 by English firearms designer William Tranter. Originally operated with a special
dual-trigger mechanism (one to rotate the cylinder and cock the gun, a second to fire it) later models employed a single-trigger mechanism. The advantage of such a weapon is that most c&b revolvers were single action requiring the hammer to be cocked back to turn the cylinder onto the next chamber before they could be fired. In a double action revolver simply pulling the trigger revolves the cylinder onto the next chamber allowing for more rapid shots. Tranter also made revolving shoulder arms and John Gilbert was killed whilst carrying a Tranter rifle which he had stolen.
Unless undercover or tracking fugitives when they wore civilian clothes, the forces of law and order all had their own distinct styles of uniform. The Mounted Police wore a plain dark blue jacket or “sack coat” with off white riding breaches and riding boots. Those employed in New South Wales wore a dark blue kepi style or forage cap whilst those from Victoria wore a shako with two linked peaks, square cut on the front peak with the rear peak being rounded. The New South Wales Native Police wore an all green uniform consisting of a forage cap, stable jacket and trousers, with red cuffs and a red stripe down each leg.
As the Gold Fields’ Police were raised directly by regional magistrates who were responsible for deciding on their dress there was variation in their uniform but by and large it consisted of a blue stable jacket and a peaked forage cap, although their trousers or breaches varied in colour and style. The mounted escort provided by the 40th Regiment wore an Albert Shako with a white cover including a neck covering, a loose red shirt, off white trousers and riding boots.
In theory all of the forces of law and order carried a sabre and carbine, although with the exception of the soldiers of the 40th, the sabre was hardly ever carried even on patrol. Revolvers were issued on an “as and when needed” basis but were common when police were guarding a shipment or actively engaged in searching for bushrangers. When issued they could be carried in flap over holsters or more frequently in horse holsters.
In terms of carbines, originally these were muzzle loading single shot rifled versions, but more latterly they were replaced the Snider breech loader or more usually with the Calisher and Terry Carbine which was an early bolt-action breech-loading carbine. This weapon used a unique cartridge which held the bullet encased in a nitrated paper wrapper holding the appropriate powder charge, with a greased felt wad at the base to help seal the breech. The weapon was approved for use by the British War Office for cavalry but was especially issued by Colonial governments in Australia and New Zealand.
PLAYING THE GAME!
For a series of skirmishes I created the settlement of Coolibah Creek in the fictional state of New Victoria.
The date is 1860 and gold has been discovered along the creek walls, turning the quiet settlement named, of course, for the surrounding Coolibah trees, into a boom town. Unusually the Markham Mining Company has secured the mining rights along the upper stretches of the Creek helped by the fact that the State’s Governor is a major shareholder in the company.
The game can be played on a 4 by 4 table and represents the settlement of Coolibah Creek. The creek runs down the middle of the table from one 4 foot side to the other, dividing the table in half. The creek is crossable at all points but counts a bad going. Roughly 1/3rd of the way down the creek is a wooden bridge and 2/3rd down is a ford. Both of these allow characters to cross the creek at no penalty.
The Mining and Assay office with a surrounding picket fence is located in the top right hand corner and Hogan’s, the local hotel and public house, in the bottom left hand corner. Opposite Hogan’s, on the other side of the creek is Shady Sadie’s, a place of ill repute and a haven for those of loose morals. Divide the rest of the table into areas each 1 ft wide. Place one building, a couple or huts or shacks or tents into each area, together with wagons, carts, crates, barrels and mining equipment so that both sides of the creek are lined with suitable scenery and plenty of cover.
RULE CHOICES
The rules we used were our own Quick on the Draw rules which can be found on the magazine’s web site. However, they can equally be played with any set of western gunfight rules which concentrate on individual characters and their abilities such as Fist Full of Lead, Dead Man’s Hand, Legends of the Old West, Gutshot, the Rules with No Name and Dracula’s America (if you ignore the fantasy stuff). The rules need to make allowance for muzzle loading weapons, as well as breech loaders and cap and ball revolvers.
Each of the following games has a cast list designed to work with our rules but can be used as guidelines for any other set of western style shootout rules , even if they are set in the antipodes.
UNDER THE SHADE OF A COOLIBAH TREE
A group of bushrangers led by Big Mouth Jacko Jackson intends to relieve the assay office, which also serves as a bank, of its contents. The gang’s objective is to steal four bags of gold and escape with them.
◗ The player controlling the bushrangers can bring them on the table from any table edge but not within 18 inches of the assay office.
◗ The bushrangers must exit from the same place as they entered as their horses are tied to trees nearby. ◗ At least two of the gang’s members must enter the assay office and spend one move uninterrupted to steal the gold which is stashed in bags awaiting shipment. A bushranger can carry one bag with no penalty but can choose to carry two (which means they cannot use their firearms unless they drop the bags) and loose 25% off of their movement rate due to the bags’ weight.
As, at present, there are no state police available to keep law and order in the settlement, the Assay office is “policed” by a band of ruffians hired as guards by the Mining Company. They have been assured that “the powers that be” will turn a blind eye to their actions providing they keep the Mining Company’s property and gold safe.
◗ The player controlling this force can place three characters in and around the assay office.
◗ The others should be placed randomly around the settlement.
The Mining Company’s men can take action if:
◗ They are attacked or shots have been fired.
◗ The assay office is attacked.
◗ They recognise one or more of the bushrangers. To do so the character trying to recognise them makes an observation roll – if successful they may act and raise the alarm – if not they must ignore them until one of the other events occurs.
UP RODE THE TROOPERS: 1,2,3
Whatever the outcome of the first action, the Governor has been forced to take action by concerned citizens or face losing the next election. He has decided to send in a strong force of officers to restore law and order led by the no nonsense Chief Inspector Atherton.
He has decided to set a trap for the bushrangers and has let it be known that a gold shipment is leaving town for the state capital. In fact he has set up a decoy wagon or mail coach (use whatever model you have to hand).
Using a 4 by 4 table place a river or creek running from one side of the table to the other so that it bi-sects the table. A road runs at right angles to this from the other table edges so that it crosses the river at a ford. The area either side of the road is clear for 3 inches on
each side but the rest of the table should be covered with trees, scrub, bushes and rocks.
Place the wagon or coach in the ford where it had been forced to stop by stones which have been rolled into its path. The bushrangers have stopped the wagon/coach and are now with 8 inches of it. However, the police are closing in.
The player controlling the police places three characters in and around the wagon/coach
The others should be placed in two groups and placed randomly within the surrounding scenery but no closer than 18 inches to the wagon/coach.
The bushrangers’ objective is to escape and that of the police is to arrest them – of course they may be shot to prevent their escape or to protect police lives.
YOU’LL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE
The final game assumes that some or all of the bushrangers escaped or, if they were captured, they escaped whilst on route to the state capital.
They are resting up in a couple of shacks thinking they are safe but a local farmer has betrayed them for the reward. It is early morning and one of the bushrangers has gone outside to relieve himself when he spots movement. Shouting “It’s the traps!” he raises the alarm.
On a 4 by 4 table place two huts or shacks in the middle of the table.
Due to their flimsy construction they only provide a cover bonus the equivalent of soft cover
They have a clear area of at least 12 inches around them although some scattered pieces of scenery such as a wagon or barrels or boxes can be added.
The rest of the table should be covered with trees, scrub, bushes and rocks.
The bush rangers have hidden their horses off the table and so before the game starts the player controlling them must write down which table edge his characters must exit to reach their horses. They begin with one of their number selected randomly placed outside and the others inside the huts, again determine randomly who is in which hut.
The Police should be placed into three groups and the player controlling them writes down from which table edge each group entered the table then places them with 24 inches of the huts from that table with the group’s backs to that edge. Thus the police may actually be blocking the exit to the horses.
As before, the bushrangers‘ objective is to escape and that of the police is to arrest them: of course they may be shot to prevent their escape or to protect police lives...
FIGURES
These games require only a few figures to play so, even if you don’t yet have any figures, the outlay to get some is not huge.
Assuming that most players will choose 28mm you have a selection of manufacturers to choose
from. Escape Games has two sets readymade for the outback but any figures dressed in civilian clothes circa 1860s such as irregulars for the American Civil war can be used. Look at those made by Perry Miniatures and Wargame Foundry. Suitable police troopers can be easily converted from dismounted
British colonial cavalry with head swaps. There are a huge number of companies making these. Mine were made using Redoubt Enterprises Zulu war troopers with ACW heads added, some with the kepis turned into forage caps. A little green stuff works wonders!
Great Escape Games, Sarissa and other manufacturers produce a wide selection of suitable buildings or you can try to scratch build them as we do: clap board building with roofs made from corrugated cardboard painted to look like corrugated iron and tents are not that difficult to construct.
For more inspiration take a look at the movie Ben Hall which captures the period really well without straying too far from the facts. It also has some interesting scenes including Hall and his companions moulding their bullets and demonstrates the variety of firearms in use, although arming the police troopers with revolving rifles is a little odd.
So: will the Traps succeed in catching the wild colonials or will the bushrangers go off a waltzing! Well, only you and the Gods of the Dice will decide. Happy Gaming! ■