We currently find ourselves in difficult times but spare a thought for the Yass and Goulburn districts in the 1860s, facing not a viral plague but a Bushranger plague.
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The serious bushranger infestation of the southern districts followed the discovery of gold at Lambing Flat (now Young) on the property of James White at Burrangong in 1860.
It was not just gold these reprobates were after. In August 1860, John Hurley, horseman, is robbed of much cash by two footmen at Binalong. In August 1861 Burrowa mailman, Daniel Crotty, is shot dead by bushrangers. Throughout October each issue of the Yass Courier reports at least one mail robbery. The January 1863 issue reports the Binalong mail robbed again. In February, Inns along the Breadalbane Plains are being held up and robbed.
By June 1863 the scourge begins to have names. Frank Gardiner, Ben Hall, Johnny Gilbert and John Dunn occur again and again. Gardiner is thought to be near Yass and Gilbert in the Burrowa district shoots a "digger" who dies. By September the Courier is lamenting "bushranging rife in the southern districts". There is a stick-up near Barbers Creek and in November, Dalton residents are held in Townsend's public house while their homes are ransacked for valuables.
By December the Binalong-Bowning road is being controlled by Gilbert, Hall and two others. In June of 1864 Ben Hall's "associates stop and rob Yass coach". But these so-called gentlemen of the road do not have it all their own way. Gardiner is apprehended and the report of his trial at Central Circuit Sydney fills the paper.
Undeterred, in November Ben Hall and gang hold up the mail at Jugiong and Sergeant Parry of Gundagai police is shot dead. Hall, Gilbert and Dunn continue to terrorise the Burrangong, Burrowa and Gunning areas. Constable Wills is wounded at Collector in February 1865, drays are held up at Gunning. In March, at Binalong, a policeman is wounded but so is Gilbert.
Something must be done! In April 1865 the New South Wales Parliament assented to the Felon's Apprehension Act. Outlaws were to be taken dead or alive. And they were. In May Gilbert was shot dead and Dunn wounded to be later captured near Coonamble. Dunn briefly escaped from Dubbo lockup but was recaptured and hanged. Gilbert was 22, Dunn just 19.
The bushranger plague was plateauing but not eradicated. A settler near Burrowa was held up in March and a daring stick-up of the Yass mail, driven by Thomas Jenkins, occurred on the summit of Little Razorback in July. Three men, their faces brazenly uncovered, commanded the passengers to light a fire to keep warm whilst they ransacked the mail bags!
One of the last Yass Courier bushranging reports in May 1869 also involved the unfortunate Thomas Jenkins, driver of the Yass mail coach. The attempted stick up between Yass and Goulburn, goes horribly wrong. Constable Chalker fires shots from inside the coach which are returned by the bushrangers wounding passenger Longfield in the right eye. Chalker shoots one of the gang's horses and they bolt.
