HE WAS the bushranger’s Bert Newton, an outlaw lauded for his longevity and “gentlemanly manner”.
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And though the foggy lens of time has been kind to his legend, there’s little doubt Frederick Wordsworth Ward – aka Captain Thunderbolt – remains one of our region’s most fascinating historical figures.
The longest roaming bushranger in Australian history, Thunderbolt’s life on the lam came to a shuddering halt at the end of a revolver on May 25, 1870 near Uralla.
That revolver, belonging to Thunderbolt’s killer Constable Alexander Binney Walker, was gifted to a friend of the police officer’s a few days later and remained a family heirloom for generations.
In an extraordinary stroke of fortune, the family recently donated the weapon to Uralla’s McCrossin’s Mill Museum after a cursory internet search showed it was a treasure trove of Thunderbolt memorabilia.
The gun will now become the crowning jewel of a special Thunderbolt exhibit and sit alongside a mannequin of the bushranger.
The bushranger legacy holds a special place in the Australian character, which seems to revel in the exploits of thieves, thugs, standover merchants and murderers.
Our underdog spirit and suspicion of authority means we mythologise criminals in a way few other cultures can understand.
Which makes this revolver an even more remarkable piece of primary source history and one museums and collectors across the nation would love to claim.
The fact it will end up in a “boutique” museum in a small country town is testament to the reputation McCrossin’s Mill has forged over the years.
To understand history is to understand ourselves – where we have come from and where we may be headed.
We owe McCrossin’s Mill a debt of gratitude for helping chronicle the rich past of our ancestors and our region.
And that debt is so easy to repay – visit the museum and ensure it’s still around to tell our story to future generations.