St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-03-02
BUSHRANGERS.
A Tale Of Wild Ranch Lite In New
South Wales.
Threatened Observation-Disclosures for the
Attack-we Have Indeed Come 70
Stay-A Personal Encounter
Peace 1t Last.

lWcOty.tWO years dSO, Wucu AssU
a sheep ranch at the intersection OF
the Murrumbide and the Lachlan
rivers, New South Wales, the Aus
tralian bushranger was at his best. /
was the agent of an English syndicate
which owned 2OO, 900 acres of land and
rs many sheep. and was at the same
time buying and shipping living Curl
Dsities to the great animal dealer at
hamburg. The natives of Australia
AVE been thumped about by the
English soldiery until they have no
spirit left, but in those days a portion
of them were as bad as the Apaches of
the United States Out in the wilds
they were on the alert for travellers
and pioneers. and. though the English
always affected to despise them, it is a
fact that every battle-ground on the
vast island has proved them fierce
fighters.
When I finally got settled at the
point l have named l had quite an
army under me. We had about
twenty huts. a stockade inclosing an
acre of ground, several big sheep
pens, two or three horse-pens, q dirt
fort surrounded by palisades. and the
number of natives employed rs herd
ers was over fifty. Most Of these
had their wives and children with
them. and as there were five white
men besides myself it will be seen that
We were a pretty strong party. We
needed to be. We had gone 4 full
hundred miles beyond civilization.
and right into the stronghold OF the
bushrangers and the fighting natives.
Three different surveying parties sent
out by the government, the last ac-
companied by soldiers, had been at
tackled and routed with severe loss.
1t was expected that l would have
trouble, and we arranged for it.
About thirty of the natives had pre-
viously been employed in sheep herd
ing, and were used to firearms /
bought two pieces of artillery at Sgd
ney and took them along for our fort,
and We were plentifully supplied with
muskets. repeating carbines and am
munition. Our coming was surprise
to the denizens, and We had time 70
get settled before they had perfected
their plans to attack us. We had ut
that time only about 10000 sheep. and
over half the herders could be spared
for the work of building the pens and
erecting the stockades.
Our village was erected on a fine
The ground fell away gradually On all
sides, and the nearest scrub was about
q quarter of mile from us on the east.
A bit of land which we called the
thumb" broke away from the forest
to the east and pushed its way into the
prairie toward us. This neck. OF
thumb. was half a mile long and moi
over twenty rods wide. and offered
splendid cover to force advancing upon
us. saw at once that it would be the
point of attack. and at the end I built
a sheep pen a hundred feet wide and
two hundred feet long. The side To-
ward us was ten feet high. Our two
six-pounders were then loaded with
shell and trained upon the pen. We
dug two rifle pits on the tanks of our
fort. facing this thumb. and a week be-
fore the alarm came we had every
thing in good shape for a fight. Twas
very anxious to have it come. It was
bound to come sooner or later. and un-
til we had been attacked and given our
xssailants a good thrashing, there could
be no such thing as security.
One day, when l was almost cursing
the natives for their slowness in At
lacking, two white men rode up to the
post l knew them for bushrangers
at a glance. They had the attire and
the demeanOr. aud were mounted on
fine horses and carried rifles and re-
vOlvers. One of them dismounted at
the door of my Office and came in. He
was fellow about forty years old.
stout as an OK. and evidently had
plenty of nerve. or he would not have
shown himself there at all. When We
had passed the time of day he asked
for whisky, tossed down a big draught,
and then said:
"NOw Captain, to bizness Hev We
come 10 stay?r
"IhayA"