Bailed up in bushranger country

Greg, formerly of Canberra and now of Narooma, only uncovered his family's long-guarded secret when he picked up a copy of Peter Smith's The Clarke Gang - Outlawed, Outcast and Forgotten (Rosenberg, 2015), an encyclopaedic account of Braidwood's notorious bushrangers of the 1860s.

"There on the inside cover was a family tree of the Clarkes - and after close inspection it turns the Clarke brothers were my pop's uncles," says Greg.

"Even today, over 150 years after their reign of terror, some Braidwood locals don't want their connections with the Clarke brothers publicised.

"Being their nephew, I imagine Pop was just one of many to sweep the history under the carpet."

Since discovering his connection to the infamous duo, Greg, a builder by trade, has turned to paint brush and canvas to bring their story to life for a new generation.

"I'd painted for a hobby for many years and as I read Peter's book I got inspired by each chapter and between swims at the beach and cups of tea over 18 months, I knocked them out," he explains.

Greg's framed artworks, all 14 of them, now take pride of place in the Braidwood Museum and are a highlight of a new Law & Order exhibition.

In launching the exhibition, Braidwood & District Historical Society president Peter Smith compared Greg's paintings to those of Sidney Nolan's 1946-47 iconic series on Ned Kelly.

"I think these are even better than Nolan's," he declared to parochial cheers.

While Peter's comments may have been partly tongue-in-cheek, there is a certain Nolanesque quality about Greg's paintings which depict key moments in the life of the Clarke Gang from their midnight raid on the Majors Creek Pub to their transportation from Nelligen to Sydney via steamboat where they were hanged on June 25, 1867.

A framed note adjacent to Greg's paintings explains that Nolan was indeed his inspiration. It also states: "Nolan's fine works are rendered in an intentional simplistically naive and even clumsy style. The present artist has quite an advantage over Nolan, in that even his best works are naturally clumsy and inept."

Your akubra-clad columnist is especially drawn to The Getaway which illustrates the brazen escape of Tommy Clarke from Braidwood Gaol on October 3, 1865. At first glance it looks a bit comical, with Tommy, barefooted, running up the back of a very tall fellow prisoner hunched over in the exercise yard.

But that's exactly what happened.

"Tommy was in gaol charged with a minor horse offence but while they held him there they cooked up a few more charges," explains Greg. "As these extra charges stacked up, Tommy knew he'd be in for a while so he arranged for an escape horse to be waiting for him."

As soon as the warders dozed off, Tommy scampered on the back of his 190cm-tall cellmate James Dornan, affectionately known as 'Long Jim the Tailor', scaling the 3.2-metre-high timber palisade wall, leaping to freedom and running across to his waiting horse.

Not surprisingly, the timber palisade was subsequently replaced with a brick wall. However, sadly for bushranger buffs, viewed by many as an eyesore, the gaol was later demolished in 1936, long before the town was heritage listed in 2006.

Fortunately a door salvaged form the gaol by a local builder was subsequently donated to the museum and is another must-see in the exhibition which colourfully documents the potted history of law and order in Braidwood.

"Law and order were big issues around Braidwood even before the gold rush and the bushranging activity that attracted in the 1850s and 60s," explains Peter.

"With so many convicts in the district, many of the wealthy landowners felt isolated and insecure and adopted a fortress-like mentality," explains Peter. "At mealtimes, one of these landholders, Major Elrington, sat at the head of his long table in his huge dining room while his eldest son sat at the foot of the table. At the right hand of each lay a loaded pistol, and in serving a meal no convict or servant was permitted to pass directly behind either."

Elrington's caution was justified. While watching John Hare, one of his assigned convicts, receive 100 lashes for absconding, the major momentarily turned his back. Hare promptly picked up a stone and threw it at Elrington, badly injuring him. Not a good outcome for Elrington. Worse still for Hare who was promptly sent to Sydney, tried for attempted murder and hanged.

"Law and order became a massive issue in Braidwood when the Clarke Gang started stealing cattle and horses and then turned to more serious crime, including the murder of four Special Police Constables in early 1867," reveals Peter. "Those deaths were regarded as the worse incident in Australia's bushranging times". Terrible times.

The fact that the monument to these slain policemen is squirreled away at the back of the Braidwood cemetery isn't lost on Peter. "When the Kelly Gang shot three police at Stringybark Creek, they put up a marvellous monument in the main street of Mansfield; if you go to Collector, outside the pub is a monument to Constable Nelson who was shot by Johnny Dunn of the Ben Hall Gang, but come here to Braidwood and our monument is hidden way up the back of the cemetery."

Peter hopes the exhibition will help more people around Braidwood "understand and come to terms with the town's turbulent bushranging past".

Who knows, in years to come we might even see a memorial take pride of place in the main street.

Check it out: Law & Order is currently on show at the Braidwood Museum at 186 Wallace St, Fridays 11am-2pm, or by appointment. Free entry.

Tim's Tip: While at the museum, have a peek at the original police 'Black Book' which was meticulously compiled by the Braidwood superintendent to provide new police who arrived in 1867 with insights about the Clarke Gang's harbourers and sympathisers. It reads a bit like a Facebook of the 1860s.

Braidwood Gaol: Although the gaol was demolished in 1936, the oak trees still mark its location at the northern end of Wallace Street, just near Gillamatong Creek. Between the former gaol's location and the museum is a recently opened restaurant aptly-named Troopers Rest which dishes up tucker the police of the 19th century could only have dreamed of.

Did You Know? The only known photograph taken inside the Braidwood Gaol is from the 1920s meat-pie western Robbery Under Arms which was filmed in Braidwood.

On the nose: The museum also has digital copies of the Gaol Entrance Book which gives names, descriptions and details of all the prisoners, as well as the Surgeons Journal detailing ailments and treatment of inmates. In 1863 a local doctor reported that the toilets at the gaol had been "receptacles of faeces of too many persons for the past ten months, and as the weather lately had been very muggy the contents emitted the most deleterious miasma which together with the effluence arising from the decomposition of soaked animal blood and various matter in the slaughter yards almost adjoining the Braidwood Gaol account for the amount of sickness in the neighbourhood." Heck.

Hidden memorial: The monument to the four Special Police Constables who were murdered on January 9, 1867 while in pursuit of the Clarke Gang is in the far south-western corner of the Braidwood Cemetery, in Cowper St. Well worth the walk.

Clue: The closest other 'Big Thing' to the Big Merino

Degree of difficulty: Medium

Last week: Congratulations to R Higgins of Kambah who was the first of many readers to correctly identify last week's photo as part of Yarralumla featuring the primary school and tennis courts, home to the Yarralumla Tennis Club, established in 1930. In 1974, 11-year-old Wally Masur joined the club with his parents Lesley and Kurt. According to Suzanne Edgar, "Wally practised with his mum, who paid him 50c if he managed to hit fifty balls over the net without error. If he muffed one shot, even at the 48th ball, he'd have to begin all over again. Not surprisingly, he was soon playing in the junior pennant." Wally, of course, went on to become an international tennis champion, coach and commentator.

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and suburb to tym@iinet.net.au The first email sent after 10am, Saturday April 24, 2021, wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.

Last week's curious challenge to locate the longest gum leaf in Canberra prompted several readers to roam the suburbs with a tape measure. The longest recorded so far is this 38cm whopper which Jill Mowbray-Tsutsumi found near Cooleman Ridge in Chapman. Can anyone beat it?

While recently exploring Roby Roy Nature Reserve, Ron Jacobs of Calwell was startled by the sudden appearance of this 'monster head'. Nessie, eat your heart out.

CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick