Introduction

The announcement of gold discoveries caused as many problems as it solved for the early Australian colonies. The prospect of finding gold had brought men from as far away as Western Australia. Many of these men were escaped or former convicts and pardoned men.

With the establishment of the goldfields came a sharp increase in crime as less wholesome individuals saw their opportunity to make easy money. Many turned to robbery rather than work on the diggings.

Within months, bushrangers were roaming the fringes of the goldfields, waiting to rob unwary miners. Bushrangers generally armed themselves with flintlock shotguns, muskets and pistols. A few carried revolvers and rifles. Many bushrangers gained notoriety and were famous in many areas of Australia. See image 1

 

'Bail Up!'

The first bushrangers were known as 'bolters' - escaped convicts from prisons or penal settlements. They robbed gold, food, money, guns and horses. Horses were vital to ensure a quick escape and these were a prize target. See image 2

 
Criminals from the bush had been known as bushrangers since the early 1800s, but with the advent of the goldrush, many men, and women, turned to it as a way of life. Gold deliveries to Sydney took place once a week on three heavy coaches. These coaches became a favourite target of bushrangers. Many deliveries failed to make their destination as the coaches were intercepted.

Attacks were brutal, often resulting in murder. Years of harsh treatment in prisons and as convicts had hardened the bushrangers and many were ruthless in their robbery methods, frequently killing their victims. The almost non-existent law enforcement meant that they had little to fear.

See animation
 

Convicts' Prevention Act

The enormous influx of people soon began to cause major problems for the Victorian government. Social activist and philanthropist Caroline Chisholm wrote to the government of her concern for the communities on the goldfields. She saw the lack of family contact and the isolation of the goldfields as causing a range of problems, including violence and crime.

A major cause for concern was the huge influx of people from Van Diemen's Land. These were generally escaped or recently freed convicts. Government officials were concerned that these individuals would corrupt the more 'decent' members of society.

William Westgarth (1815-1889) was a member of the first Legislative Council of Victoria. He, like many others, was concerned about the growing number of convicts flooding into Victoria. Westgarth submitted a new law called the Convicts' Prevention Act in 1852. This law was established specifically to prevent ex-convicts from Van Diemen's Land from coming to the goldfields. See image 3

Under the conditions of the Convicts' Prevention Act, people coming to Victoria needed a ticket-of-leave, stating that they had never been convicts, or at the very least that any prison sentence had been served and that they were free men.