JACK BRADSHAW

Jack Bradshaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1846 and arrived in Australia with a relative in 1860 at the Port of Melbourne. For a while he worked in Victoria and southern New South Wales as a shearer and farm labourer, but he much more enjoyed the occupation of a confidence man, trickster and petty thief.

One of his scams involved working with a 'Professor Bruce' who claimed that he could read peoples characters from the shape of their heads. Bradshaw would case out a town several days before the professor arrived and learn much about the local identities and then pass it on to him. Teaming up with two men 'Red Lance' and 'After Dark", they planned to rob a bank at Merriwa, but after mistakingly holding up the storekeeper and not the bank manager on his way to work, they panicked and escaped into the bush.

For the next few months Bradshaw scraped out a living, fair and foul until he met a fellow deviach, 'Lovely" Riley. Together they rustled horses but once again Bradshaw was keen on robbing a bank. This time they bailed up the right man and while they were attempting to persuade the manager to open the safe, his wife, who was in labour, emerged from the bedroom and after giving them a severe tongue-lashing they gave up and left.

But in May 1880 they were finally successful, robbing the Quinindi Bank of over £2000. From there they went to Tamworth via Currabubula and went on a drinking binge. Riley got drunk and openly bragged about the robbery. Bradshaw saw the danger and left in a hurry. He, using the alias of Davis went to Armidale and not long after arriving, started courting the daughter of a wealthy landowner, who lived near Mihi Creek. They married, but shortly after Bradley was arrested over the bank robbery. Sentenced to twelve years gaol, he was finally released in 1888 and returned to his wife. But he could not stay out of trouble and was sent back to prison for stealing mail from registered mail bags. In 1901 he was released never to be in trouble again. At fifty five years of age he had found a new way of making a living by writing and lecturing about his exploits. He finally died in an old people's home.