BEYOND the LEGEND
Tales of bushrangers and police have captivated Australians ever since Ned Kelly and his gang slipped iron helmets over their heads and took on the might of colonial law. Perhaps these common images and reports of better known bushrangers have prevented us from learning more about other wrongdoers from our past, whose exploits are just as tragic or maybe even contain a touch of humour.
A knowledge of our bush criminal past helps us understand how far we have come in relation to modern law and order. Even today, our bushranger history is constantly reinterpreted in a modern setting and these historical characters are being given new life.
The most recent commemoration took place in February at Boorowa in the central west of New South Wales. Australia Post unveiled a plaque in Boorowa Cemetery to Daniel Crotty, a mailman who was shot in a bungled hold up by three novice bushrangers who happened to all be French nationals. Mailmen were fair game for bushranger attack, but this young red-haired Irishman is believed to be the only mailman ever killed
