I went to the New England District of New South Wales testing a theory that the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt once visited Ipswich in Queensland. I told a version of this story live on West Bremer Radio.

I’ve written previously about Captain Thunderbolt in this regards, but I’m looking for more supporting evidence, so travelled to Uralla which is the heart of Thunderbolt country.

In the 1860s Fred Ward was the “gentleman bushranger” Captain Thunderbolt. He holds the record as the longest roaming bushranger in Australian history. He was on the run in northern New South Wales and the Queensland border region for almost seven years, and at one stage I believe he came to Ipswich.

Firstly, just to show how easy it was to travel by horseback between Ipswich and Thunderbolt’s home patch around Armidale, I’ve looked at the postal delivery service back then.

The postal service for the district was reorganised in 1847 by Moreton Bay’s Captain John Wickham. In 1849, Wickham was a magistrate who dismissed Ipswich’s famous boxer “Black Bill” on a charge of fighting. In 1853, it was Wickham who commandeered an Ipswich steamer to go chasing pirates.

Anyway, according to Wickham’s postal arrangements – and I quote – a postman on horseback would leave Armidale every alternate Tuesday, and proceed to Toowoomba, arriving there every alternate Saturday. On return, he would leave Toowoomba every alternate Thursday, arriving at Armidale every alternate Monday. And then for the Ipswich and Brisbane leg, a postman on horseback would leave Toowoomba every alternate Monday, arrive at Brisbane every alternate Wednesday. On return, he would leave Brisbane every alternate Monday, arriving at Toowoomba every alternate Wednesday, calling at Ipswich on the route to and from, to exchange mails.

What that means is you could post a letter in Armidale on a Monday and the best you could hope for a return letter from Ipswich was four weeks later.

And that means Thunderbolt could be in Ipswich for weeks before anyone could be told and get up here from down south if needed. And I think that’s exactly what happened when Ipswich’s Constable William Francis arrested a man who he believed was the bushranger.

Francis was famous for catching bushrangers. He caught the bushranger Ned Randall after tracking him for over 320 miles. Another time he tracked for 150 miles the bushranger John Burns, alias Riley the Bushranger, alias “The Hairy Man”, before arresting him.

Anyway back in 1870, Constable Francis was particularly keen to catch Captain Thunderbolt. That’s because the constable was in charge of the station at Warwick in 1867 when the bushranger paid a visit, watched the Warwick races and avoided being recognised, which humiliated Francis and his men. And so in 1870 Francis arrested a man who he believed to be Thunderbolt and brought him back to Ipswich.

A sensation was produced on the evening of Tuesday the 8th of February 1870 when it became known that a man believed to be Thunderbolt had arrived. The police court was packed the next morning. Some Ipswich locals were swearing it wasn’t Thunderbolt at all, and so Constable Francis sent for an incorruptible police witness who knew Thunderbolt, to come up from Maitland.

But the postal service and the return travel, by ship and horseback, was just too slow. And so the Ipswich magistrate released the alleged bushranger before the witness could arrive.

But I think it was Captain Thunderbolt who was here. For one thing, the two names the accused gave to Francis proved to be false, and for months during this whole saga, sightings of Thunderbolt ceased, in other words, he wasn’t seen anywhere else while this man was held in the Ipswich cell.

Thunderbolt did reappear down at Uralla and was shot dead on the 25th May 1870 just 90 days after being released from Ipswich.

And so here I am looking for more evidence supporting the Thunderbolt Ipswich theory, I’ll be checking out Thunderbolt’s Rock, Thunderbolt’s Cave, and Thunderbolt’s Grave.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS TOLD ON WEST BREMER RADIO.

Photo credits:
Thunderbolt’s Grave, Uralla, 2025 – Harold Peacock 20250503_105422.
Frederick Ward alias Thunderbolt – Truth, 21st February 1892, public-domain.
Captain John Wickham in uniform, 1820 – Brisbane City Council.
Ipswich- Courthouse, c1860 – State Library of Queensland.
Death of Thunderbolt, wood engraving – Samuel Calvert, 18 June 1870, State Library of Victoria.