Bushranging in Queensland-the Capture of Fegan. sic

Rare colonial engraving of the capture of Peter Fagan the bushranger on April 1864. Fagan was arrested for making two purchases with forged cheques at the clothes store of Mr L Sandel, on the corner of Fitzroy and East Streets. Fagan was charged with uttering on the evidence of Sandel the store keeper and the manager of the Australia Joint Stocks Bank, Mr Lanarch. Both were placed in the new Rockhampton lockup and were held awaiting trial.  By June 25, 1864, numerous robberies on the road to the Peak Downs goldfields had been attributed to Fagan and Wright. Mail and horses were stolen in the area and by the time the police presence had increased in the region, Fagan and Wright had moved across the Mackenzie and Isaac Rivers and had “stuck-up” the station of a Mr Caldwell near the Rocky Water Holes outside Peak Downs on June 29. (Witnesses describe the events in the Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser (1861 – 1871) of July 30 1864). Caldwell, incensed at the theft of a gold watch and £40 immediately gathered a posse of station hands to pursue the two bushrangers.

From the original edition of The Illustrated Sydney News.

Collections:
State Library New South Wales: TN115
State Library Victoria: RARENSL N.S.W. 1875