19th century Australia was a rough place.  It was also in the mid-1800s THE place to be after gold was discovered and fortunes lying on the ground were just waiting to be gathered. Tens of thousands of prospectors from around the world flocked to Port Philip (Melbourne’s harbour) to join the greatest gold rush the world has ever seen.

 

Besides creating millionaires aplenty it also fostered the age of the bushranger.  Prior to Ned Kelly, names such as Captain Moonlite, Ben Hall, Captain Melville, Jackey Jackey, Captain Thunderbolt and the Wild Scotchman were just as notorious and have entered Australian folklore.  Another name that blazed briefly at this time was Frank Christie (b1830- d1903) who, in his day, was as notorious as Ned Kelly.  He was born in Scotland, came to Australia with his family as a boy and grew up to be an accomplished horseman and a charismatic, charming actor on Australia’s rumbustious stage.  He turned to rustling (or duffing as the Aussies called it) and for a time used ‘Gardiner’ and the ‘Darkie’.  He described himself as ‘The Prince of Tobymen’ – a tobyman being another name for a bushranger - and saw himself as a noble actor in life’s drama.  The following clipping was taken from the Lachlan Miner of 19th April, 1862, giving some insight into his character and probably giving Mr Torpy (whoever he was) some sleepless nights:

 

"To the Editor of the Burrangong Miner, Lambing Flat.
 

Sir, – Having seen a paragraph in one of the papers, wherein it is said that I took the boots off a man's feet, and that I also took the last few shillings that another man had, I wish it to be made known that I did not do anything of the kind. The man who took the boots was in my company, and for so doing I discharged him the following day. Silver I never took from a man yet, and the shot that was fired at the sticking–up of Messrs Horsington and Hewitt was by accident, and the man who did it I also discharged.  As for a mean, low or petty action, I never committed it in my life.

 

The letter I last sent to the press, there had not half of what I said put in it. In all that has been said there never was any mention made of my taking the sergeant’s horse and trying him, and that when I found he was no good I went back and got my own.

 

As for Mr Torpy, he is a perfect coward. After I spared his life as he fell out of the window, he fired at me as I rode away; but I hope that Mr Torpy and I have not done just yet, until we balance out the accounts properly.

 

Mr Greig has accused me of robbing his teams, but it is false, for I know nothing about the robbery whatever. In fact I would not rob Mr Greig or anyone belonging to him, on account of his taking things so easy at Bogolong. Mr Torpy was too bounceable or he would not have been robbed.

 

Fearing nothing, I remain, Prince of Tobymen, Frances Gardiner, the Highwayman.

Insert the foregoing, and rest satisfied you shall be paid”

 

 

Christie/Gardiner was also remarkable in one particular aspect – while all bushrangers of any note were killed or hanged, he survived and after serving 10 years of a 32-year sentence he was allowed to emigrate to the USA on condition he never returned.  His life is quite well documented except for a period after he had escaped from Pentridge prison when he seems to have gone to ground.  And during this period one of the most audacious robberies in Australian history took place – the McIvor Gold Escort robbery…. 

 

Although a Joe Grey was named as the leader of the gang that robbed the McIvor Private Escort by some of those arrested, there appears to be no record of the gang associating with Grey before July, 1852 – a few months before the robbery.  After the robbery, Grey disappears from history, except for an unsubstantiated rumour that he had been arrested at Portland and had confessed. However, this man, if he existed, was never charged and never appeared again.  Although the records do indicate that Grey made his way to Melbourne after the robbery, he was never captured and there are suggestions that he may have made his way to Adelaide. However, there are no definitive records, no descriptions, only one throwaway comment that he was a convict like others in the gang, although there are no convict records that appear to tie to this Joe Grey either.

 

My research led me to a clipping in Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer (Sydney, August 6th, 1853).  It reads as follows :

“It will be some gratification to learn that the leader of the gang who attempted the wholesale and cold-blooded slaughter of the private escort yesterday week has been captured and recognised, and that he admits himself to have been one of the party.  The wretch was taken in bed on the following Saturday at M'Ivor Diggings, where he was lying, booted and spurred, with a female as abandoned as himself. He is an ill-looking fellow named Christie, about twenty-six years of age, and whose life has been one scene of crime from first to last.

He had not long escaped from Pentridge stockade, and it was the look-out for him as a runaway convict which led to his detection as one of the would-be murderers. Christie is said to be a native of Sydney, but this is not certain.”

 

What is notable is the phrase “he admits himself to have been one of the party”. However, if this event did indeed happen, nothing further came of it.

 

Further confusing the report is the fact that there was another man arrested in connection with the robbery named Christopher Christie, but he was released and never brought to trial and there is no record of such a man escaping from the Pentridge stockade.

There are no sightings or reports of the whereabouts of Frank Christie or Gardiner during this period, other than for this news item. We also know that he was very familiar with the area and history records that he also participated in another robbery in 1862 at Eugowra, New South Wales that used exactly the same modus operandi.  Finally, one of the gang who was caught described another member of the gang who was not arrested in terms that could be a description of Christie, but that is also hardly conclusive.

 

So here is the question. Could Joe Grey have been Frank Christie? He used many aliases in his life and would certainly have used an alias around this time as he was wanted as an escaped prisoner from the Pentridge stockade.  The coincidences are teasing if not compelling. 

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