This is another of a series of Jigsaw Puzzles highlighting the Longreach Local Government Area.
But more than just a Jigsaw!
Life is a puzzle. Make sense - solve the puzzle!
Faxcinating history and stories from the 1800s
Rolf Boldrewood wrote the book Robbery Under Arms which told the story of a young man who ran away from his noble English family to become a cattle thief and armed robber in the Australian outback. The hero’s name was “Captain Starlight”.
The name 'Captain Starlight' often causes confusion as it is associated with 2 bushrangers: Harry Readford AND Frank Pearson.
Henry ('Harry') Readford was an explorer and a cattle thief. In 1870 he stole about 1000 cattle and drove them more than 1200kms across Queensland (camping here at the Lookout - about 10K from GZ) and South Australia. It was an amazing feat that showed great skill and endurance, and turned Henry Readford into an outback legend.
Frank Pearson, also known as 'Captain Starlight', was a pathological liar, a serial impostor, a thief, a bushranger, a conman and a killer. Clever and educated enough to pass himself off as a doctor, he was also an artist, a literary man, a stockman and an accountant.
Frank Pearson (1837–1899) liked to boast that the hero of the story was modelled on him. The author, however denied it; Boldrewood claimed that he had never even heard of Frank Pearson when he wrote Robbery Under Arms. His “Captain Starlight” was, he claimed based on several Australian bushrangers. One of them was a horse thief known as “Captain Midnight”. Another was Henry Readford.
Henry Readford never called himself “Starlight”, although because of Robbery Under Arms he has come to be known by the name.
Henry Readford was born in Mudgee, NSW, on 12 December 1841. He was the eleventh and youngest child of Thomas and Jemima Readford. From a young age he was involved in the theft of stock, the most famous of which was this robbery of 1000 cattle from Bowen Downs. He was charged and faced trial at Roma, but was notoriously found not guilty.
Henry was brought to justice for only one of his crimes: the theft of a horse from Eton Vale. For this crime he served 15 months of an 18 month sentence in the Brisbane Gaol (Boggo Road). In his later life he was known as a pioneer of north Queensland and the Northern Territory. Acting as a property manager, a guide and an explorer, he contributed much to the development of the north.
Readford died from drowning in a creek at Brunette Downs in March 1901. He is buried at Brunette Downs and a plaque on his grave reads:
Here lies
HARRY REDFORD
alias
CAPTAIN STARLIGHT