Black Bunny's Bushrangers (T) - George 'Frenchy' Melville New South Wales, Australia
By Black Bunny on 22-May-21. Waypoint GA6040

George 'Frenchy' Melville

George 'Frenchy' Melville

In July 1853 a large gang of bushrangers which included most, if not all of the following: George 'Frenchy' Melville, an ex-convict from Tasmania aged thirty-one; William Atkins, another ex-convict aged twenty-eight; George Wilson, aged thirty-two; John and Joseph Francis who used the alias of 'John' and 'Jeremiah Murphy'; Joe Grey alias 'Nutty'; Bob Harding; Ned McIvoy; George Elson: and a man named 'Billy" planned to carry out a most daring robbery on the gold escort from the McIvor diggings.

On the 20 July 1853, the Melbourne Gold Escort Company dray driven by Thomas Flookes pulled out of McIvor carrying 2223 ounces of gold and £700 in notes. He was headed for Kyneton where it would join up with the government Gold Escort and continue on to Melbourne. He was accompanied by five men on horseback, the man in charge, Mr Warner, three company employees, and a Police Sergeant.

They had travelled about twenty miles from McIvor when they came across a big log thrown across the road and what at first appeared to be an Aboriginal mia mia next to it. As the driver attempted to drive his team around the log a large volley of shots rang out from the shelter. Flookes was fatally wounded and its escort soon gave up any attempt to fight back and retreated leaving the dray to be plundered of its contents.

A huge manhunt was soon under way to find the culprits of the outrage. John Francis and George Wilson were soon arrested along with their wives aboard the "Madagascar' in Hobson's Bay. Shortly after George Melville and his wife were arrested on board the barque 'Callooney', while William Atkins and his wife who had booked their passages on the 'Hellespont' were discovered in a boarding house in Melbourne.

As to the others involved there is a lot of confusion as many of the documents concerning the case are no longer in existence. Joseph Francis was reported to have been arrested in Queensland, but released after giving information. Another report stated that Cadet William Symons arrested Joseph Francis at Burnewang Station on the Campaspe River, and while being escorted to Melbourne committed suicide. The latter could be the more likely as John Francis was supposed to have told Captain McMahon all about the robbery and then committed suicide by cutting his throat.

From those captured the authorities recovered £2501.10.0d in gold, banknotes, sovereigns and bank drafts, plus 7 bags of gold, value unknown. The bulk of the gold was never discovered as the rest of the felons were never apprehended.

George Melville, William Atkins and George Wilson, were all charged with the murder of Thomas Flookes and sentenced to death by Judge Williams. They were hanged on Monday 3 October 1853, before a large crowd and the body's were handed over to their respective family's.  His execution lead to a change of law in Victoria when his wife claimed his body and displayed it in the window of her oyster shop in little Bourke st - thereafter bodies of those executed were buried in the prison grounds.

Bushrangers.

Over 2,000 bushrangers are estimated to have roamed the Australian countryside, beginning with the convict bolters and drawing to a close after Ned Kelly's last stand at Glenrowan.

Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term "bushranger" had evolved to refer to those who abandoned social rights and privileges to take up "robbery under arms" as a way of life, using the bush as their base.

Bushranging thrived during the gold rush years of the 1850s and 1860s when the likes of Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner and John Gilbert led notorious gangs in the country districts of New South Wales. These Wild Colonial Boys typically robbed small-town banks and coach services.

In other infamous cases, such as that of Dan Morgan, the Clarke brothers, and Australia's best-known bushranger, Ned Kelly, numerous policemen were murdered.

The number of bushrangers declined due to better policing and improvements in rail transport and communication technology, such as telegraphy. Kelly's capture and execution in 1880 effectively represented the end of the bushranging era.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushranger
http://members.iinet.net.au/~gdean1/bushrangers/melville_g.htm

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