Clarke gang

John and Thomas Clarke in Braidwood Gaol, May 1867. Thomas (right) is shot in the arm.

The Clarke gang was a group of bushrangers active in the mid-1860s in the southern goldfields of New South Wales, Australia. The membership of the gang fluctuated over time, the two core members being brothers Thomas and John Clarke, from the Braidwood district.

The Clarke brothers, along with several relatives and associates, were responsible for a reported 71 robberies and hold-ups, as well as the death of at least one policeman; they are also the primary suspects in the killing of a squad of four policemen sent to capture them. The gang also murdered one of their own members and a man they wrongly assumed was a police tracker, and shot several other victims. Their crimes formed part of a bushranging epidemic that inspired the Government of New South Wales to enact the Felons' Apprehension Act (1866), a law that introduced the concept of outlawry in the colony and authorised citizens to kill bushrangers on sight.[1] Thomas was proclaimed an outlaw on 31 May 1866.[2]

By the end of 1866, most members of the gang had either been captured and imprisoned or killed in shootouts with the police. John and Thomas were captured following a shootout in April 1867. They were hanged two months later at Darlinghurst Gaol, Sydney. Their execution marked the end of the last major outbreak of organised gang bushranging in New South Wales.

Some modern-day writers have described the Clarkes as the most bloodthirsty bushrangers of all, and according to one journalist, "Their crimes were so shocking that they never made their way into bushranger folklore — people just wanted to forget about them."[3]

  1. ^ Eburn, Michael (2005). "Outlawry in Colonial Australia: The Felons Apprehension Acts 1865–1899" (PDF). Australian and New Zealand Law and History e-Journal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  2. ^ "Proclamation: Thomas Clarke and Patrick Connell declared to be outlaws". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 115. 5 June 1866. p. 1347. Retrieved 31 December 2020 – via Trove.
  3. ^ Brown, Bill (10 April 2017). "Re-enactment to look back at capture of Australia's deadliest bushrangers at Braidwood". ABC News. Retrieved 12 March 2017.