Bushranger

Bushrangers originally referred to escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term "bushranger" had evolved to refer to those who abandoned social rights and privileges to take up "robbery under arms" as a way of life, using the bush as their base. These bushrangers, mostly colonial-born sons of convicts, were roughly analogous to British "highwaymen" and outlaws of the American Old West, and their crimes typically included robbing small-town banks and coach services; in more infamous cases, such as that of Dan Morgan, the Clarke brothers, and Australia's most well-known bushranger, Ned Kelly, numerous policemen were murdered. Kelly's execution in 1880 effectively represented the end of the bushranging era.