In 1861 the Toowoomba constabulary allowed a lot of prisoners to escape, and it changed our society for ever. I told a version of this story live on Darling Downs radio 4AK.

On the evening of Saturday the 3rd of August 1861, Mr Peter Gentle walked into the Toowoomba police lock-up.

Gentle was a mail contractor and one of the first hotel keepers in Toowoomba. He asked Constable Allan McDonald, who was in charge of the lock-up, to see a prisoner by the name of Richard Austin, or Dick Austin to his friends. Once Gentle was in the lock-up he offered the constable a bribe of £50 to let Austin escape. That’s more than $70,000 in today’s money. Constable McDonald declined the offer.

A couple of weeks later, Austin was convicted in the Toowoomba circuit court of robbery, stealing a bullocks yoke, and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. The arresting officer Constable William Moloney and Constable George Burton were tasked with escorting Austin to Brisbane goal.

The party travelled by foot. They were passed by none other than the mayor of Toowoomba, Mr William Groom who himself was a former convict. He was surprised that although both constables carried carbines, the prisoner Austin was not handcuffed. When the party got to Gatton Creek, they had to cross on a log and Austin surprisingly was sent to go over first. As might be expected, as soon as Austin got to the other side, ran up the bank, disappeared into the bush, and was never seen again.

The senior officer Constable Moloney was found guilty of neglect in allowing Austin to escape and was fined £5.

As for Constable Burton, this wasn’t the first prisoner he’d let get away. Just weeks earlier, he and another policeman were escorting a prisoner to Brisbane when they stopped near Flagstone for the night. The prisoner didn’t have handcuffs on either, and somehow during the night, while the constables were asleep, he managed to quietly slip out of camp and was never seen again. Constable Burton, for his crimes of letting two prisoners escape, was promoted to acting chief constable in Toowoomba.

Meanwhile back at the Toowoomba lock-up, one night Constable McDonald left his wife Johanna alone with their two children and in charge of the lock-up and five prisoners.

Constable McDonald was from Nova Scotia, Canada, and Johanna from Clonmel in County Tipperary, Ireland, so perhaps Constable McDonald believed his Irish wife was more than capable. They had married in Sydney two years earlier and already had two children.

While guarding the prisoners, Mrs McDonald was asked by one of them to fetch water because they were thirsty. As she was opening the door, a rush was made by the villains, and three of them escaped. The other two were stopped by the commendable Mrs. McDonald who, although having her six-month-old daughter Margaret in her arms, blocked their way. (See pictured top of page.)

After the escape, Constable McDonald and his family were banished to the police station in Dalby.

As for the Toowoomba publican Peter Gentle and the prisoner Dick Austin, who he had tried to free by bribing Constable McDonald, and probably succeeded with Constable Burton. Well, they were long time mates having come to Australia together.

Gentle had been a publican in Edinburgh, Scotland, when he was convicted of a crime serious enough to be sentenced to seven years transportation. Austin, meanwhile, was a cloth cutter in Staffordshire, England, when he was convicted of horse theft and also sentenced to seven years.

They were both among the 297 convicts who were taken from London prison hulks and transported aboard the ship Bangalore, arriving in Moreton Bay on the 30th April 1850 and immediately given their ticket-of-leave.

Aboard the Bangalore were other great additions to Queensland citizenry such as Daniel Sullivan who upon arrival was given seven days solitary confinement for chucking a sickie. There was John Hutton who became Queensland’s first ever public executioner. And then there was the pensioner guard Michael Turley who became the oldest person ever sentenced to death in Australia, and at eighty-years-of-age the oldest to be murdered in prison.

Famous across the Darling Downs was Peter Gentle’s grandson also called Peter Gentle. He was a horse racing enthusiast, bookmaker, publican, shining light in theatre, was one of the best-known and most popular citizens in Toowoomba and indeed all over the Downs. Sadly, he died of gout.

We owe a great debt not just to the convict ship Bangalore, but also to Toowoomba’s constabulary and their regular prisoner escapes, for maintaining such talent in the Queensland colonial gene pool.

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

Photo credits:
Representation of Mrs Johanna McDonald and the Toowoomba Lock-up escape in 1861 – Copilot image.
Representation of Dick Austin’s escape, 1861 – Copilot image.
Representation of Dick Austn based on his convict description, 1850 – Copilot image