Brothers Thomas (c. 1840 – 25 June 1867) and John Clarke (c. 1846 – 25 June 1867) were Australian bushrangers from the Braidwood district of New South Wales. They committed a series of high-profile crimes which led to the enacting of 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]
Active in the southern goldfields from 1865 until their capture, Thomas and John were joined for a time by their brother James and several associates. They were responsible for a reported 71 robberies and hold-ups, as well as the death of at least one policeman; they are also suspected of killing a squad of four policemen looking to bring them in. The Clarkes also murdered one of their own gang members and a man they wrongly assumed was a police tracker, and shot several other victims. They were captured during a shoot-out in April 1867 and hanged two months later at Sydney's Darlinghurst Gaol. Their execution ended 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]
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.