We’ve all heard of bushrangers like Mad Dog Morgan and Captain Thunderbolt. They had great names that will live forever. But then there was the Darling Downs bushranger who I guarantee you’ve never heard of. I told a version of this story on radio 4WK.

His name was Henry Hunter. He was a twenty-two year old gentleman who operated mostly on the Darling Downs in the late 1860’s. He was a handsome young man, five feet nine inches tall with a dark complexion, and was believed to have descended from a well-connected family in Dublin, Ireland. He was educated and evidently spoke French because he called himself the “Wild Frenchman.” But that name never stuck because more often than not, Henry Hunter was simply called “Russell”.

Even his horse had a nice un-bushranger name of “Rolando”. Russell and Rolando ranged the Darling Downs putting fear in the hearts of pretty much no one at all. Hunter operated alone, his career was short, but was still dramatic.

On one occasion after holding up the Clermont mail, he took the constable and the mailman to a waterhole where he was a courteous host, sharing a meal and a billy of tea. But the policeman returned and attacked Hunter’s camp. There was an exchange of shots but nobody was hurt. Hunter galloped off, loudly protesting against the unsportsmanlike conduct of the constable in shooting at him when he wasn’t looking.

Hunter’s last hold-up was the mail from Taroom to Condamine in 1866. During the robbery he handed over a letter addressed to the editor of the Burnett Argus. In it were cheques with a total value of £4,500. These were crossed cheques from earlier robberies which he said were of no value to him and so wished the owners to have them back. That’s almost $6 million in today’s money that he returned to the economy.

When the events were reported to police, Sub-Inspector George Elliott set out with two troopers and black trackers. After three weeks searching they picked up Hunter’s tracks.  

As the party neared a bush hut, they saw a man about 200 yards away walking quickly towards a creek. He carried a saddle on his head and had a double-barrelled carbine in his hand.  The sub-inspector called out for him to surrender. The man was Hunter who coolly asked to see the warrant.

Unslinging his rifle and raising it to his shoulder, Elliott said if Hunter didn’t surrender then he would fire. Dropping his saddle, Hunter dashed among the trees with Elliott’s carbine cracking as he ran. From behind a big gumtree Hunter fired back, the bullet kicking up dirt at Elliott’s feet.

Hunter dodged from tree to tree while Elliott also sought cover and drove Hunter back with some uncomfortably close shots fired at a range of just 80 yards. That’s when Elliott called for Hunter to come out and talk it over. Both men agreed not to shoot one another and so stepped out from their cover, and advanced toward each other until they stood just 10 paces apart.

Elliott said that if Hunter surrendered, then he’d go easy on him at trial. Hunter thought deeply about this and said, if he did surrender, would he be allowed to ride without handcuffs and keep his carbine. Elliott refused. Hunter suggested that Elliott should fire over Hunter’s shoulder and allow him to escape. But Elliott said it was clear they weren’t able to come to agreement, so they had better get back to their cover and fight it out.

They each walked back to their shelter, and the shoot-out resumed.

Meanwhile, the sub-inspector’s party had secretly outflanked Hunter who found himself the target of shots from across the creek beside him. Hunter ran out of bullets and realised the game was up, so he emerged from the trees and put out his hands for the handcuffs.

Hunter was tried in Brisbane by Queensland’s first chief justice James Cockle. The jury took only eight minutes to make up their minds, and the judge sentenced him to twenty-two years imprisonment.

Sub-Inspector Elliot grew in stature. His family members had fought in the Napoleonic Wars, and his father at Waterloo. Elliott was among the miners on the Ballarat goldfields who fought in the Eureka stockade against mining permit regulations. He knew Robert O’Hara Burke very well and very nearly joined the ill-fated Burke & Wills expedition.

Following the conviction of Hunter, Elliott was promoted to inspector, put in charge of the Rockhampton district, and given a grant of £100. The inhabitants of the Condamine District where the gunfight happened, they presented Elliott with a very handsome engraved rifle, which was one of the very latest patent American breach-loaders. Inspector Elliott died following a riding accident in 1871.

And the Darling Downs bushranger by the name of Henry Hunter, who called himself the Wild Frenchman, but was more widely known as Russell – he just disappeared from history.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON RADIO 4WK.

Photo credits:
Bushranger Morgan at Round Hill Station, 1864 – State Library of Victoria.
Sub-Inspector George L Elliott – Queensland Police Museum.
James Cockle, the first Chief Justice of Queensland, 1863-1879 – State Library of Queensland.