Reviewed by BarrySinclair Dec 2005

This is an exceptionally well presented book of only 90 pages, written in fairly large print, so only gives a limited history of “Thunderbolt.”

It is fairly accurate for the time it was produced, 1988, containing most of the provable facts known at the time, and published in books written in that era. It is an easily read book without all of the personal prejudices and judgements which appear in some books such as Jim Hobden's, "Thunderbolt". Since then many more facts hav been found which have been added to more recent books. Noel Sadler's book is so highly regarded that it is quoted as a reliable reference in nearly every book published after it was written. However one section often quoted by later writers who have not done their own research properly concerns the death of Mary Ann, Thunderbolt's wife, at Bells Mountain on the 17th November 1867.

He makes the claim that it was not Mary Ann who died at Bell's Mountain. His photo on page 55 supposedly of "Mary Ann. The man could be Burrows" is in fact the photo of Mary Anne Burrows, a lady born in The Bay of Islands, New Zealand in 1836, 2 years after the birth of our Mary Ann. The death certificate of Mary Anne Burrows also clearly shows that this Mary Anne was married twice in 1840 to Patrick McNally, coincidently in Stroud, and 1880 to John Burrows. Her death certificate clearly shows she had 3 children to Patrick McNally at the same time as Mary Ann Bugg was having her four children to Thunderbolt. It also shows her occupation as being a nurse. This is clearly not our Mary Ann Bugg even though the death certificate shows, mistakenly, the parents to be James Brigg & Charlotte (surname unknown).

On doing further research on John Burrows and Patrick McNally's wedding in the NSW BDM records 1788 to 1888 one can find that there is no record of a marriage of anyone by the name of Patrick McNally during those years. When trying John Burrows there were 12 marriages between 1788 & 1888, however, only one was to a Mary A. This marriage occurred in 1849 & is recorded as being between John Burrows & Mary A Terrant or Tarrant and occurred in the C of E Australian Agricultural Company Parish of Dungog/Stroud & the reference is V1849632-34C . This would have to be the marriage referred to by the author. This throws an entirely different light on the death certificate for Mary Anne Burrows as it makes many of the details on the death certificate in fact incorrect. Mary Anne Burrows death certificate shows her age on marriage to John Burrows as being 44, however she was only 22 when her first child to Burrows was born having been married in Cooyal near Mudgee. It then goes on to show her having 10 children to Burrows aged from 47 down. She also could have had Patrick McNally as a partner at 16 years old, as her death certificate shows her having 3 children to Patrick. Such mistakes often happened on death certificate as children record, as fact, stories and information they had been told, even though it was incorrect. There is no record of a marriage to Patrick McNally which, however, proves nothing as the clergy for the AAC often seems to have failed to record marriages in the state BDM records. This also happened with the marriage of Fred Ward & Mary Ann Bugg a few years later.

On page 56 the author states "The following is the story of the death of Thunderbolt's other lady, Yellow Long." This, if he had checked properly, is a pet name that had been given to Thunderbolt's wife Mary Ann Bugg by her local aboriginal community because of her light complexion. She was in fact lighter skinned than many of the European migrants of the period. The article he refers to states she was "Louisa Mason", the name Mary Ann used while working in Sydney to procure Thunderbolt's escape from Cockatoo Island.

Proper research of police and other records can easily show that Noel is incorrect in his version of the story. As a result many other authors continue to proclaim this incorrect version of the facts. So often this happens when later writers fail to do their own research correctly.

On page 8 the author shows a tally of Thunderbolts crimes. He says there is a total of 77 crimes yet on page 86 he lists a supposed 129 crimes committed by Thunderbolt. On page 8 he also shows 5 shootings by Thunderbolt at police, however a better study of police records show that in each case it was not Fred Ward but one of his associates who actually shot at the police. An error which again appears in books by later authors who have not done their own research. At the end of his book the list of crimes need to be checked carefully as many of those listed have now been proven to have been done by other people.

As a photographer he has included many excellent photos which have been recorded, with permission, in later books by various authors.

Unfortunately the book is out of print and can only be obtained from libraries such as the Uralla Library.