The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1912-05-18

reared cattle. A remote
part of the world into which
Dame Fashion dare not penetrate.
And above all. a domain dominated
by the terrible bushranger. Such
was my earliest conception of 1t which
still obtains in the minds of thousands
of British people.
And how different is the reality!
The country certainly is spacious and
sparsely inhabited Men also get gold
and rear cattle. but not as once they
did. The days of finding are over.
And as for Dame Fashion-alas. she
Is too much in evidence. She is more
audacicus here than anywhere else.
except 1t be Paris
But it is of the bushranger that !
propose to write; the bushranger who
was even as late as thirty years ago.
but who now no longer exists, writes
F. c. Spur in the Montreal Weekly
Herald. The staggering villain Of
the time-honored novel who entered
an Australian bar and held up" pro-
prietor and patrons and having robbed
them took to the road again-he has
ceased to be.
A lecturing engagement took me to
Beechworth. amongst the hills. There
found our enchanting country full Of
natural wealth and beauty; place
hidden from the eyes Of the crowd.
but sought by tired town-dwellers.
who. weary of dust and noise aspire
after period of repose in spot
where the air is a veritable elixir Of
life. and where the earth laughs with
flowers and fruits. High as is Beech
worth. oranges and lemons grow
there.
But despite its attractions. the town
is beginning to die. This Is the trag-
edy of Australia-that small towns
which were called into existence
through the finding of gold begin to
perish as soon as the gold Is ex-
hausted. The mines are closed down.
the miners depart. shopkeepers lose
their patrons. and they. too. are COM
PEELED to put up the shutters.
Gold and bushrangers? There is an
affinity between the two. But for the
presence of the one. the others would
not have come into existence Beech
worth was once the center Of the OPP
erations of the most desperate gang
of bushrangers Australia has ever
known.
Tho Kelly Gang.
heard the story from the lips OF
the oldest inhabitant." a vigorous old
Scotsman who has passed his eighty
fourth year. and who retains a clear
memory and a youthful spirit. He was
one of the magistrates who tried the
members of the terrible Kelly gang"
He pointed out the place where stood
the prison in which the precious
scoundrels were incarcerated.
With pride he conducted us to q
rock which is named after HMM
grams rock-from which we obtained
a marvellous panorama of billy coun-
try extending many miles In every
direction. And there, deep down in
the dell, lay caves and other hiding
places In which the thieves found
shelter from the harassing police and
soldiery. We stood In the heart OF
the bushrangers' country.
The story Of that time when told
today makes the flesh shiver. As we
surveyed the beautiful landscape and
shared the deep tranquility Of hill and
dale, we found 1t difficult to believe
that only thirty years ago this coun-
try-side was at the mercy of three OF
four desperadoes. who kept the In.
habitants in a state OF continual ter
ror. Three or four men-Irishmen-
armed with guns and revolvers. raided
where they pleased, killed whom they
pleased. and lived as they pleased,
Soldiers. and police alike were foiled
by them. and when they were at last
taken. 1t was more by accident than
design. Dick Turpin. so far as Eng.
land is concerned. belongs to a past
age.
Don Quixote may be still wandering
in some guise or other amongst the
Spanish mountains. But that q
small band of Irishmen should at the
end of the nineteenth century and
upon British territory continue The ex
ploits OF the old-world is almost In
credible.
The father OF the Kellys-for such
was the name Of the gang-was an
| Irishman and q Roman Catholic who
came over from the Emerald Isle with
the reputation Of being an 'Informer.'