“Thomas Icely and his visitor Superintendent Edric Morisset, were oblivious to the theft till shots broke the night’s stillness”

It was a quiet winter’s lunchtime, on 30 July 1863, when John Gilbert and John O’Meally rode towards the-then Commercial Bank in Carcoar. Their broad daylight raid fell apart, however, as a brave teller fired a shot through the ceiling, rousing the quiet town, and sending the bushrangers scampering. They galloped away empty-handed, but now no community was safe at any time. The former Commercial Bank and much of Carcour still exists as it did when the ‘wild colonial boys’ reigned.

Inspired by his comrades’ raid on Carcoar, Johnny Vane targeted Comus 2, the famous racehorse, at the stables near Coombing Park. On 2 August 1863 he enlisted young Micky Burke to help carry out the deed. The owner, Thomas Icely and his visitor Superintendent Edric Morisset, were oblivious to the theft till shots broke the night’s stillness. It was too late. The horse was gone, and Charley the groom staggered haplessly nursing a shot to the mouth. To cap it off, the bushrangers also stole a valuable horse resting at the stables, as its owner, Sub-Inspector James Davidson, rode another to pursue the Carcoar bank raiders. 

Micky Burke, who fired at Charley, now joined Ben Hall, John Gilbert, John O’Meally and John Vane, in their audacious, terrifying gang.

A few days later, on 6 August, Gilbert, O’Meally and Vane laid in ambush at Five-Mile Waterholes. They targeted the coach, unaware that three imprisoned passengers were under the guard of a mounted trooper and three troopers inside.

The bushrangers only discovered the large police presence during the ambush, but were now committed. The police escort was not going to lose its prisoners without a fight. The bushrangers circled in firing wildly at the policemen, who were torn between fighting off the attack and keeping the prisoners under guard.

Mounted Constable Frederick Sutton charged towards Gilbert sustaining a shot in the chest and arm at O’Meally’s hands. He managed, however, to stay in the saddle. The fire from the coach intensified so the bushrangers retreated shouting oaths, barely escaping with their lives; Gilbert’s horse was wounded and a bullet passed through O’Meally’s coat smashing a watch in his left breast pocket.

As far back as 1826, Barry, on the slopes of Mt. Macquarie, known as Five Islands, was a reputed refuge for bushrangers and runaway convicts. On 22 September 1863, three troopers rode up to a nearby house of settler Marsh whilst on patrol.

The bushrangers took the house by surprise, holding the police trio and the family at gunpoint as Mrs Marsh prepared dinner. The gang ate before leaving with the trooper’s uniforms, handcuffs and weapons.

The gang rode on to John Loudon’s Grubbenbong station near Garland, disguised in the stolen uniforms. After shooting and smashing their way into the house, they handcuffed the residents and their visitors and enjoyed a meal.

On 26 September, the five bushrangers, most still dressed in stolen police uniforms, then approached William Rothery’s home at Cliefden. Taken by surprise, Rothery was tied to a chair as the hungry bushrangers dined. Later, they left with three of the estate’s finest horses and two of its best saddles for Canowindra. – Gregory Powell author of Bushranger Tracks, p. 2016 and Bushranger Tracks – Beyond the Legends, p. 2019.