A Branch Bank in the Bushranging District: on the Alert

This illustration conveys the fear that the Kelly gang instilled in country Victoria.

In explanation of it I may state that from my room, the manager’s, I have to note every voice and footstep entering the bank. From having been long resident here I have no difficulty in distinguishing customers from strangers. Should there be anything suspicious in the movements of the latter the pen is laid down and the pistol is taken in hand—it is kept just handy in the waste-paper basket, so as not to make it too conspicuous by keeping it on the table—and is not laid aside till all suspicion is allayed.” The sketch thus gives a curious and genuine feature of life in the disturbed district threatened by the depredations of the Kelly gang. 

From the original edition of the Australasian Sketcher.