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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
As “joes” or “traps.”The colonial governments had a hard time finding police because many officers, like thousands of others, had left their jobs to join the gold seekers. In the early gold rush years they relied on the Native Police, a force made up Aboriginal men. The Native Police were effective because their close knowledge of the land helped them to track bushrangers and other criminals. To supplement this force, however, governments had little choice but to accept anyone who was willing to join the police. This meant that the force included ex-convicts, ex-wardens, and many young, inexperienced recruits.The gold commissioners regulated the goldfields and resolved disputes between miners. They also offered a service designed to move gold securely from the fields to cities for safekeeping. For a fee, diggers could turn over their gold and have it transported on heavily guarded coaches. The “gold escorts” carried thousands of pounds of gold from remote goldfields to Sydney, Melbourne, and other cities each week.Courtesy of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South WalesThe gold escorts provided some security, but they could not prevent bushranger attacks. Bushrangers typically had excellent knowledge of the land and were skilled at riding horses and using guns. Their attacks became more frequent as the quantities of gold increased. The most famous gold escort robbery took place in New South Wales on June 15, 1862. Frank Gardiner and his gang, which included Ben Hall and John Gilbert, held up a coach at Eugowra as it was
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