The hills around Crookwell are full of gold rush and bushranger stories.
Aaron von Ehrstein is very much a lesser known bushranger. There are no movies made about him and you won't find any plaques marking his escapades.
He arrived in Australia in 1851 as a ship crew member. He claimed that he had previously been in a German cavalry regiment and had fought as a mercenary in Mexico. He left his ship post in Sydney to settle in Australia.
Jump forward to 1854 by which time he had found his way to Crookwell. He was employed by Mr Horatio Roberts at the Wheat Sheaf Inn, with whom he remained for five years, and then left to work for Mr Oak's on the Crookwell River.
In the late 1850s he took to bushranging. This appears to have started with a holdup on a bush track in Binda. Mr Evans, the target, reported to police that he had been robbed by a masked man with good English and a gutteral accent. The troopers with an aboriginal tracker traced the hoof marks from the hold-up spot to where von Ehrstein was living at the Oak's homestead. Mr Oak's informed the troopers that there was a german immigrant living on site, however von Ehrstein had left by the time they raided his hut.
The troopers continued the chase for a couple of days but eventually had to abandon this as they had run low on provisions.
A month later he "stuck up" and robbed Mr Coffey, of 'Cobra Station', on the Fish River and stole the racehorse 'Emerald Gem', which was in training for the Burrowa races. Troopers again tried to track him but again he eluded capture.
By the time he struck again, he had recruited 2 accomplices, Michael Henry Davis and Robert Smith. The trio "stuck up" settlers on Grassy Creek and picked out the best saddle horses and loaded their own with provisions.
The troopers were on their tracks, but again lost all trace of them.
For two and a half years the troopers had failed an arrest. They would go into "smoke" in the almost inaccessible ranges and keep quiet for periods.
Von Ehrstein was a tactician, he always had food cached in caves and other hiding places so that he would not be forced into the open.
In 1861, the gang shifted to the vicinity of the Lambing Flat goldfield (Young) where they robbed right and left.
On January 6, 1862, Sergeant O'Grady and Ensign Campbell Morris, of the 12th Regiment (who had been instrumental in quelling the riots) were passengers on a coach going to Cowra. The other passengers were John Malloy, David Billington, and a Frenchman. Six miles out from Lambing Flat the coach was "stuck up" by von Ehrstein and his gang. The Frenchman, Henrique Dubois, refused to allow the bushrangers to search him, and Davis fired two shots at him, both missing.
Von Ehrstein then told Davis not to fire again. He walked up to Dubois and knocked him out with his fist. Then he turned out his pockets and secured a good haul of gold nuggets. From the Sergeant and Ensign he collected over £20 in cash.
Word quickly reached the police who were soon hot on the trail. After a chase of 20 miles, the bushrangers were surrounded in a densely-clad valley. Called on to surrender, the bushrangers crawled out from the undergrowth and submitted to the handcuffs being locked on them. After over 2 years on the run, the three of them were sentenced to 10 years' penal servitude.
After his release, a German settler met von Ehrstein and took him to Albury. He changed his name and worked for the old German in his vineyard. Later he married a daughter of his benefactor and reared a large family.
Source: Crookwell Gazette 7 May 2019 "German bushranger Aaron von Ehrstein" by Monika Croke. Burrowa News, Friday, April 14, 1950