This volume recounts the early history of bushranging in Australia. Excerpt: Owing to the stringent military rule during the first years of convict settlement, the unknown character of the country, and the absence of prey in the shape of men with money or other possessions (the aborigines being the only occupants of the soil outside the properly formed settlements), those who were called bushrangers then were simply men who had broken away from their gangs in the hope of escaping from the torture of labour under Government. The name has been made to carry a very different meaning since then, being applied to men who, some from choice and some from necessity, ranged the bush as freebooters, "sticking-up" settlers and travelers and demanding in orthodox style "your money or your life."

This is a sequel to the first volume. The book is set during the period of bushranging in Australia. Excerpt: For some time after the robbery of the Escort at Eugowra Rocks, Hall, Gilbert, and O'Meally kept away from their usual haunts; but were by no means idle during their temporary seclusion, and not a few cases of "sticking-up" in lonely parts of the bush roads in the Lachlan district were, not without reason, charged against one or other of them by the authorities and the public. While the fate of their late companions—Mann, Bow, and Fordyce—was hanging in the balance they were arranging fresh plots under the very noses of the police. As in the case of Gardiner, a perfect system of "bush telegraphy" had been established in every locality where their friends resided; and as they invariably moved with a given object from their hiding places, and either returned direct to the place from which they had started or made for some other friendly shelter in another direction, they were always in touch with their "telegraphs" and were thus kept posted in every movement made by the force whose aim it was to capture them.

Frederick Wordsworth Ward, better known as 'Captain Thunderbolt', had one of the longest bushranging 'careers' in history. Plaguing New South Wales for almost seven years, he enjoyed much public support as he was intelligent, and charming. This book describes some of Thunderbolt's exploits and refutes many of the popular myths that surround him.

The Kelly Gang: Or, The Outlaws of the Wombat Ranges was produced by George Wilson Hall, the owner of the Mansfield Guardian in 1879. It is the first and rarest book on Ned Kelly, there being only four copies known to exist, with none in private hands. Hall was close to several informants and appears to have exceptional first-hand accounts of Stringybark Creek and other Kelly encounters. This new edition includes rare photographs of the participants from the period.

The story of Australia's last bushranging gang - the murderous Kenniffs. Easter Sunday, 1902, deep in the Carnarvon Ranges a police constable and station manager are slain then later incinerated, their remains stuffed into saddlebags. Accused of the ghoulish crime are two members of the bushranging Kenniff gang, fast gaining notoriety as Queensland's equivalent of the Kelly gang. Yet the murders are a bold escalation from the petty fraud, horse stealing and cattle duffing the gang is known for. Starving and exhausted after three long months on the run, the brothers are finally captured, and so the wheels of justice start to turn. The story of the Kenniffs has fascinated Mike Munro for decades - ever since he found out these last bushrangers were his family. If not for Mike's grandfather illegally changing his name in shame from Kenniff to Munro, this major figure in Australian television would be known to us as Mike Kenniff. But who were Mike's relatives? What drove them to their life of crime? And were the brothers really responsible for such terrible murders? In answering these questions Mike Munro takes us back to the dawn of Federation, when bush skills and horsemanship could help outlaws escape the police, when remote pastoralists were vulnerable targets for thieves and marauders, when race and class divides were entrenched - but resented - and when brutal, feckless outlaws faced the ultimate punishment. This is a story that is both gripping and personal, and an insight into an Australia just coming of age. PRAISE FOR THE LAST BUSHRANGERS 'All families have a secret ... but Mike's is a doozy! This touching, TRUE story is a terrific read!' Di Morrissey 'A thoroughly informed, lively and balanced page-turner' Steven Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald