Slippery Jack the bushranger

While these days the Capertee district is mostly a law abiding place things were often different in the past. One noteworthy criminal was Slippery Jack a bush-ranger who ran amok robbing local miners huts and sheep stations during the mid-1890s. While the main period of bush-ranging in Australia had passed a generation or two earlier, the hunt for Slippery Jack generated much press attention around the country.

1896 police photographs of the bushranger known as Slippery Jack

From about 1894 reports began to appear of a number of thefts of unattended homes in the local area. In August 1895 the Bathurst Free Press & Mining Journal reported on four robberies of unoccupied miners huts at Palmers Oakey and a bush-ranger daubed 'Slippery Jack' was the main suspect. The paper reported that he got away with some gold, silver, food and supplies.

In February 1896 Slippery Jack's bush camp was discovered by a settler named William Hutchinson at Eagle Hawk's Nest at a deserted high spot near the Sunny Corner to Wattle Flat road. Hutchinson called the police who later attempted to interview the suspected robber at his camp. Slippery Jack tried to shoot at the police but his gun was not loaded. After pelting the police with rocks he escaped into the bush. Not long after a local miner's hut was robbed of all his possessions.

Slippery Jack's bush hut was built of poles and brushwood and covered with bark cut from local trees. Searching his, now abandoned, hut the police found stolen goods including clothing, tents, watches and food. Surrounding his well disguised shelter was a small well cultivated garden consisting of tomatoes, pumpkins potatoes and other vegetables. By this time Slippery Jack was now suspected of being a convict from the French penal settlement of New Caledonia.

After evading capture Slippery Jack relocated up the Turon River, and while there he robbed miners huts. The police were now actively searching for him, and with the aid of Aboriginal trackers traced him to Blackmans Crown in March 1896, but, again, he evaded capture.

On 23 May 1896 Slippery Jack was finally arrested after being shot in the thigh by Constable Preston of Ilford along with several other officers and an Aboriginal tracker named Hughey. The capture took place on Genowlan Mountain, east of Capertee, and according to Bruce Jefferys, writing in The Story of Capertee, Slippery Jack was carried down the mountain to Airly homestead. He was then taken by rail from Capertee to Wallarawang for medical treatment, after which he was sent to Bathurst Police Station.

Despite hardly speaking any English, during formal questioning it became known that the prisoner was a Spaniard who was born in 1834, and he went under several names including Jean Lefung and Juan Larosa. He confessed that he was an escaped convict from the French penal settlement at New Caledonia. He, along with several other prisoners, had escaped from the French colonial prison by boat. To support this story it was noted that the prisoner had marks on his legs caused by leg irons. It seems that our fugitive was a wharf labourer who had been convicted of hard labour for life in France in 1883 for counter-fitting offences before being sent to New Caledonia.

Slippery Jack was found guilty at Bathurst Court for 'breaking and entering a dwelling and house stealing within' and was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. Considering his many, alleged, offences in the district the prisoner escaped with a relatively light sentence. Despite this, later that year he attacked another inmate and received an extra years imprisonment for malicious wounding. It is not known what happened to Slippery Jack after his time behind bars.

If you have information to add to this article we would love to here from you.

The greatest wonder in the world

‘The greatest wonder of the world’ was the description given to the world’s largest specimen of reef gold which was discovered by Bernhardt Holtermann at nearby Hill End in 1872. Within months of the find the mining settlement was transformed into one of the largest inland towns in New South Wales. But, by the 1880s most of the gold had been found and the community went into terminal decline. Apart from contemporary press reports little was known of the appearance of Hill End until a large cache of glass plate negatives were discovered in a garden shed owned by the Holtermann family in Chatswood in 1951.

Hand coloured photo of James Jaye's
tinsmith shop in Bathurst (1873)
Holtermann collection, State Library of NSW

It soon became apparent to historians that these 3,500 negatives – known as the Holtermann Collection - were the work of travelling photographers Beaufoy Merlin and Charles Baylis of the American and Australasian Photographic Company who visited Hill End and other Central Tablelands mining towns in the early 1870s.

Short Street, Hill End (1872) 
Holtermann collection, State Library of NSW

Recent developments in computer digital imaging have allowed the State Library of NSW to scan the Holtermann Collection images so they can be clearly enlarged to gallery size prints. A sample of these astonishing images is now on view at the State Library of New South Wales in Macquarie Street, Sydney, until 12th May 2013. Works at The greatest wonder of the world show include house and street scenes of Sydney, Bathurst, Hill End and Gulgong. There are also images of other local mining communities such as Home Rule and Canadian Lead.

As well as the images of the mine workings and the townscapes there are also many studio portraits  of the diverse residents of these communities. These include family portraits as well as images of children. My favourite child portrait is of a bewildered looking boy named August Gondolf who is seated on a tricycle. One sad image is a post-mortem photograph of an infant girl laid out with flowers in preparation for her funeral.

Studio portrait of August Gondolf
Holtermann collection, State Library of NSW

This exhibition will delight all with an interest in nineteenth century Australian history. Make time to visit this free exhibition next time you are in Sydney.

Exhibition opening hours:

9 am to 5 pm Monday to Thursday (Tuesdays open until 8 pm), 9 am to 5 pm Friday, 10am to 5 pm weekends
Closes 12th May 2013

www.sl.nsw.gov.au

Where is Capertee?

For locals this is a question frequently asked by people not familiar with our beautiful part of the world. But it's not just interstate people who ask the question. Despite being the only Capertee in Australia many Sydney and Blue Mountains folk seem to get confused with the similar sounding village of Cobbitty located south west of Sydney, near Camden. Well where is Capertee then?

Where in Australia is Capertee?

Capertee is a mountain village located 800 metres above sea level on the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. The community is located on the Castlereagh Highway (also known as the Mudgee Road) between Lithgow and Mudgee. By road Sydney is 187 km away. On average, a road trip from central Sydney to Capertee usually takes about 170 minutes. Unless you live in the northern suburbs of Sydney, the fastest route to Capertee is via the M4 and the Great Western Highway.

The old milepost in Capertee

The nearest large town to Capertee is Lithgow which is 43 km to the south. Other significant local towns are Mudgee (81 km to the north) and Bathurst (78 km to the south west). Despite being on a long established rail line the station has been closed to passenger traffic for many years. The only public transport is an infrequent coach service to/from Lithgow which connects with the Sydney suburban and New South Wales rail network.