   bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the british settlement of australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. the term "bushranger" then evolved to refer to those who abandoned social rights and privileges to take up "robbery under arms" as a way of life, using the bush as their base. these bushrangers were roughly analogous to british "highwaymen" and outlaws of the american old west, and their crimes often included robbing small-town banks or coach services. ==history== more than 2000 bushrangers are believed to have roamed the australian countryside, beginning with the convict bolters and drawing to a close after ned kelly's last stand at glenrowan. ===1850s: gold rush era=== the bushrangers' heyday was the gold rush years of the 1850s and 1860s as the discovery of gold gave bushrangers access to great wealth that was portable and easily converted to cash. their task was assisted by the isolated location of the goldfields and a police force decimated by troopers abandoning their duties to join the gold rush. george melville was hanged in front of a large crowd for robbing the mcivor gold escort near castlemaine in 1853. ===1860s to 1870s=== bushranging numbers flourished in new south wales with the rise of the colonial-born so
Bushrangers History_of_Australia_(1788a1850) History_of_Australia_(1851a1900) Robbers