It is claimed in nearly ever book about Thunderbolt,
that, throughout his career, he never shot at any one, including the
police. However what is not so well known is the reason for this. Thunderbolt's
wife, Mary Ann Bugg, by her Aboriginal heritage, had a total hatred of
guns due to the way so many of her people had been murdered by the white
population of the time. During her time with Thunderbolt she instilled
in him this same total hatred of guns and of shooting at people. Also a simple
checking of history will show that ALL ABORIGINAL PEOPLE OF THE TIME HAD A COMPLETE HATRED OF GUNS
because of the numbers of their people that had been shot by the whites.
There is no reason to believe other than that Fred hated using guns especially as he had
been initiated into the local Kamilaroi tribe near Gunnedah & and would also have shared
their hatred of guns. This is an important factor in the subsequent chasing and death of Thunderbolt.
The area at Stroud was once occupied by the Gringgai clan (Mary Ann's tribe) of the Wanaruah Aboriginal people.
It is known that the Wanaruah had trade and ceremonial links with the Kamilaroi people.
In 1850 Fred's
Uncle, George Ward, married Charlotte Nixon in St Peter's Church of England in Armidale.
In the next 4 years they had 2 children. Fred and his Uncle George were employees of Tocal
Station near Patterson. In 1854 George was instructed to take a herd of
cattle to the Maitland sale despite the knowledge that the Hunter River was
in flood. While crossing the river George was drowned. About 18 months later
the Ward family, George's brother William (Harry), owner of nearby Lamb's Valley Station
12 miles west of Tocal, & 2 nephews, James & John Garbutt, commenced
stealing horses from Tocal Station. Fred , also an employee of Tocal, was
asked to assist in droving the cattle to the Windsor Sale Yards where Fred
and James Garbutt were arrested. James was charged with stealing horses however
Fred was initially charged with stealing horses but this was reduced to
being in possession of stolen horses & should have been given a lesser
sentence of 6 years served locally, instead he received the full sentence
of 10 years, to be served in the hated Cockatoo Island prison. The beginning of Fred Ward's
"life of crime" was caused totally by the action of the managment of Tocal Station, in sending
his uncle George into Maitland to a cattle sale knowing that the Hunter River was in flood,
causing the devestating death of George.
Many authors claim that Mary Ann & Thunderbolt
were not married despite this testimony shown in the article below. The problem is there seems to be no
records at Stroud to the marriage, as often happened at that time. I have found several cases of well known
family marriages in Stroud at the time, where there are no records of the marriage.
"We remember reading in the 'North-West Champion' of December 7, 1929, that
an old lady whom I knew, Mrs Dreamer, in an article entitled "The Days That Were”,
claimed that she saw Thunderbolt married at Stroud. The old lady seemed to have a
clear recollection of the event, and she told the story in these words, I quote: " It was at
Stroud and I was going to school at the time. Frederick Ward, that was Thunderbolt's name,
was a nice looking young fellow, and the girl he married was Mary Bugg, daughter of Mr Jimmy
Bugg who looked after the Australian Pastoral Company’s station at Port Stevens. There was
a great to-do at the church the day the wedding was on, and we were all let out of school to see
them come out of church.”
At that time, Mary Ann was working in the Anglican School at Stroud, so it is certainly
reasonable that the children would be given time to watch the wedding. The Parish at that
time was not the parish of Stroud but part of the Church of England Parish of the Australian
Agricultural Company, which included the area from Wollongong to the Queensland border
with the exception of Sydney. The Stroud Website clearly indicates that Thunderbolt was
married in the Stroud Anglican Church.
Arguably Thunderbolt was the first Australian male to take Paternity leave.
A study of his crimes & personal family life shows that, whenever his wife was expecting, he took up to
nine months off from his Bushranging career to look after his wife & family. So, out of his 6 & a half
year career, he actually took nearly 2 years off looking after his family. According to some Aborigines,
much of this time was often spent with one of their communities in the Gunnedah area, where he was
well hidden and protected from the police. He was, by this time, regarded as one of them.
On the 25th May, 1870
in the late afternoon the Italian hawker, Giovanni Cappasotti, while traveling
past Thunderbolt's Rock near Uralla was held up and relieved of £2/13/6
and some jewelery. He was sent on his way to Tamworth. However after travelling
a little over a mile, he hid his cart in the bushes near Dorrington's
farm and rode back to Uralla, through the bush to the east of Thunderbolt's
rock so as not to be detected by Thunderbolt. He advised the police
of the presence of Thunderbolt in the area near Blanch's Inn.
Constable Mulhall was on duty, however Constable
Walker was also present in plain clothes, having been ill for several days. Both policemen set out after Thunderbolt.
By the time Constable Mulhall reached Thunderbolt's Rock, having the
faster horse, he was about 500 yards ahead of Walker. He said his gun
went off and his horse turned around and bolted back to Uralla.
(A police trained horse did this?) On passing Walker it is claimed by
Walker, Mulhall said "There they are. I have exchanged shots with them.
Go and get the wretches."(i)
Walker then commenced his chase of Thunderbolt, knowing that he
would not be shot at. Just imagine the turmoil that must have gone through his mind when
"this Thunderbolt" started shooting at him. Despite knowing it could not be the real "Thunderbolt"
he continued chasing him , shooting the man he was chasing, then advising his superiors that he had shot "Thunderbolt".
They advised their superiors in Sydney immediately , who advised the press. The next day the truth was discovered when they
found that the body did not have the recorded markings of Fred Ward.
Thus commenced the police cover up which has continued to this day.
Fred Ward used to follow the races and after
the race would often take possession of the best of the horses so he
always could outrun the police. At this time he had a special horse
called "Combo" which he had taken from Goonoo Goonoo Station south of
Tamworth. On this particular day "this Thunderbolt" at Uralla did not have "Combo". His own horse
was exhausted.
A young man, James Coghlan, was leading 3 horses, which his employer
had recently purchased at Scone and was taking them to Ebor. He had been
leading the horses all day in an attempt to get home as quickly as possible,
so the horses were totally exhausted. Not knowing this, Thunderbolt commandeered
one of the horses to try it out. At that moment Walker arrived on the
scene.
Walker chased "Thunderbolt" for approximately 2 miles in a South
Westerly direction until they reached Kentucky Creek, where Thunderbolt
abandoned his exhausted horse and proceeded to cross the Creek. Walker
then states that he shot the horse,(ii) to the later upset of James Coghlan.
According to the second statement of Constable Walker
writen on Sunday 29th May 1870 “…he immediately plunged
his horse into the water and his horse stumbled and went underneath the
water when Ward made a rush at the Constable into the water with his Revolver
in his hand. The Constable fired and Ward fell forward into the water
and went under and when he came up he tried to catch hold of the Constable
who then struck him on the top of the head with the Revolver, the Constable
rode his horse out of the water and tied him up, he then drew Ward out
of the Creek and believed him to be quite dead…….. the Constable then took
others out to look for the body of Ward but could not find it, returned to
Blanch's………found the body at daylight." (iii)
Phillip Pomeroy, in his paintings of the event in the McCrossin’s
Mill Museum Uralla, using the description by Constable Walker shows
Walker on his horse above Ward shooting down upon him. If as portrayed,
and according to Walkers own statement, the bullet entering the left
chest above the heart it would have passed through the body exiting at
the rear of the body above the right hip. There is also the following "Walker returned and found the body next morning about
9 o'clock." There is no direct evidence, but the more reliable
secondary sources basically claim
"When they returned next day they found
that Ward had crawled a little distance into the bush, and was still alive,
but he did not survive the trip back to Uralla…. when the police examined
the body and clothing they found that Ward's revolver had been empty when
Walker shot and clubbed him."(100 Australian Bushrangers, 1789-1901,
Allan M Nixon.)(iv)
Two days after the death of Thunderbolt, Walker reenacted the
shooting for a photographer, Mr Cunningham of Armidale. "Mr A Cunningham has taken several excellent photographics
to illustrate the end of Thunderbolt, and other matters connected with
it. Of Ward's dead horse there are two views. There are three different
views of the spot on which the final struggle took place, Mr. Walker being
shown supposedly in the same dress and on the same horse as he had when he came upon
the west side of the creek; the reality of the scene being added to by Mr.
Smoker, of Uralla, representing, on the E. side, Ward - each with weapon
levelled at his opponent. To secure a good view, Mr Cunningham took the trouble
to cut down several trees. Then there are two portraits of Mr Walker, one
being full length; while there are three of Thunderbolt when he was
lying dead, after the post-mortem examination. One represents him with his
hat off, another with his hat on, and the third is his profile."(iv)
Early on the 27th May the body of Thunderbolt
was taken back to Blanch’s Inn and examined by Dr Spasshatt from Armidale.
It is interesting to note that although there were positive identification
marks recorded in police records for the identification of Fred Ward
especially the mole and warts (….Ward is a native of Windsor, New South
Wales; a laborer, 27 years of age, 5 feet 8 ¼ inches high, hazel
grey eyes, mole on right wrist and two warts back of middle finger of left
hand.")(vi) they were not used to identify this body as that of Fred Ward.
It is also interesting that the report by Dr Spasshatt given at the inquest was not the one sent
to Sydney but the one rewritten on the Sunday at the police instructions after the burial. It was carefully dated 29th May, by Dr Spasshatt,
as proof of the cover up.
During the next few days over 300 people viewed the body and all agreed
that “It's Thunderbolt alright.” Many authors and researchers misused
this statement to show “It's Fred, alright” despite the fact, at that time
he was known by the general public only as “Captain Thunderbolt“ and the
various other names suspected of belonging to the person, such as Fred Britten
, Michael Blake, Fred Ward, William (Harry) Ward, Fred Blake etc were only
rumors.
It was left for young Will Monckton, who had served one year of
a six year gaol sentence in Darlinghurst (viii) for being the companion
of Thunderbolt, & was, by chance, returning to Armidale on the Saturday,
was ordered to identify the body at Uralla on Sunday, May 29th, four
days after the shooting(viii). Will had been caught with Thunderbolt in
the Tenterfield region 12 months earlier and gaoled. While in gaol he had
heard that Thunderbolt had been shot by the police in the right knee at
the top of the Moonbi's recently, but had escaped. At that time he knew he had been
with Fred Ward aka as "Thunderbolt" near Torrington, not long before he
surrendered to the police, and that Fred Ward was not the “Thunderbolt”
shot at Moonbi.
He was taken off the carriage in Uralla to identify the body and used the scar
on the right knee as positive identification that the body was that
of Fred Ward. The police immediately accepted his identification and
excused him from the remainder of his sentence, even though they did not have that right under the law to do this. The body was buried that
Sunday afternoon in the edge of the Uralla Cemetery in unhallowed ground.
After the burial the amended report was filled out by Walker to confirm the person deceased was Fred Ward aka “Captain
Thunderbolt”. Constable Walker's statement given on the Sunday was the one sent to Sydney, as the
evidence given as part of the autopsy report, not the actual one used on the Thursday, as it did not include the name Fred Ward.
Thus began the official police cover up of the truth of "The Death of Thunderbolt"
Present at the funeral was a very tall women, for those days,
(5ft 8inches) dressed in a full-length black gown and a heavy black veil.
A journalist stated that "after the funeral it was
noted that she left without speaking to anyone", however it was
also noted "she walked away with a very manly gait."
Was this Fred saying goodbye to his Uncle Harry? This has always been
held by the family as fact.
On the Saturday after the death of Thunderbolt
(28th May) 2 young policemen were at the races in Glen Innes and saw
Combo tethered there. Hiding, they watched the horse for some time until
they saw a man, who they personally identified as “Thunderbolt”,
appear and quickly mount the horse, before they could stop him. He left
the area in a south easterly direction towards Wards Mistake. He went
over the steep cliff into the gorge area. Being inexperienced horsemen the young
policemen were not able to follow him. On returning to Armidale they submitted
their report of the days activities to their commanding officer, only to
be told that “Thunderbolt” had been shot 3 days previously. To justify what
they had been doing during the day, they insisted on filing their report.
I have been told the report was been seen in the police archives in
Sydney as recently as 1998, however the police have not permitted me to view it.
In the Ebor area where he was heading, lived his mother
Sarah Ann (Ward) Edwards, my G-G-Grandmother. I believe he went to his mother's
home. If you go out to Hernani and talk to the families of the oldest
residents in the area they will all tell you that “Great Aunty or Great Grandma danced with Thunderbolt
at the weekly Saturday night dances for 6 weeks after "the death of Thunderbolt".
It is my belief that during those 6 weeks Fred used his day times to call
on all his caves and hiding places in the area at Lansdowne near Taree,
Barrington, Moonbi, Uralla, Black Mountain, Torrington, and Boonoo Boonoo,
near Tenterfield and several other caves and rescue his “earnings”. It has been reported as being
as much as 20,000 pounds about $1,000,000 in today's money. Despite people
searching the area of his caves for the last 140 years all that has been
reported as having been found is one bottle containing about 20 pounds in a cave west of Singelton.
12. How did Fred Ward get away to America?
At the end of the approximately 8 weeks Fred, with his mother Sarah Ann
Shepherd (her real married name as she does not appear to have married my Grandfather Edwards)
as a companion, went to Morpeth on the Hunter River near Newcastle, then by boat to San Francisco.
Alf Dorrington from Dungowan near Uralla offered to take Fred Ward, his mother Sarah Ann Shepherd & Fred Jnr to Morpeth, near Newcastle in late August 1870, from where he could catch a boat to America. As a payment for his services Fred gave Alf a large amount of money which he used to buy a headstone on his recently deceased Aunties grave at Bendemere. If one checks the Bendemere Cemetery you will find that this tombstone is still the best tombstone in the entire cemetry.
White replied "Since you have such an opinion of Thunderbolt, it might interest you to know that he is my cousin. I'll show you something." He went into the house and returned a few minutes later with a letter, the top and bottom of which were turned down, so that the address, date and signature were all concealed. "Do you know that handwriting?" he asked.
"Know it anywhere" declared Matthew Spencer. "It's poor old Fred Ward's"
"It is" White confirmed, and he flattened out the sheet of paper; the signature was unmistakable, "Fred Ward" . -. . the date proved to be less than six months old. It must, therefore, have been written some sixteen years after Thunderbolt had been officially declared dead.
Moreover, the address showed the letter to have come from Canada, and in this detail confirmed the independent statement of Old Mrs Walker on her death bed, and, incidentally, of my father's belief that Ward had gone to some place in North America.
…. the letter was written in Canada, the
date January 21st 1892. The signature was one word – Fred. After a careful
examination of the document, my father remarked, “But, good God,
man, it can’t be true?”
“Yes, Mr Spencer” said White. "It’s quite true”
(…) During my visit to Canada in 1937 my enquiries at Ottawa resulted
in the production of further evidence to support the claim I have advanced
herein. I was informed that in Ottawa Cemetery an Australian named Frederick
Ward lies buried
Is it the grave of Thunderbolt?
To me, the irresistible conclusion, drawn from the foregoing evidence,
is “Yes”.(x)
13. Who then is buried in
Uralla cemetery?
It has always been the belief of the family that the person buried at Uralla is Fred's uncle William (aka Harry). By the late 1860's things started to get "too hot" for Harry in the Maitland area & he came to join Fred, mainly operating in the southern area around Uralla. I believe he was the "Thunderbolt" shot at & wounded by the police at Moonbi in early 1869. On the death of William's mother Sophia in 1874, her death certificate shows both Fred & William ("Harry") as being deceased. Fred is naturally shown because of his death certificate, however there is no death certificate in Australia for William (aka Harry) Ward despite a thorough search of all states BDM registers by myself and other direct family members. The death certificate for Fred is in fact the death certificate for his Uncle William (Harry).
Report of Dr Oettle, Former Director of
the Division of Forensic Medicine in the Department of Health of New
South Wales - dated December 4th, 2003
I hope this answers your questions and I would be happy to hear
from you should you wish to discuss it further.
Godfrey Oettle
or write to me at