Frank Gardiner

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Frank Gardiner (born c. 1829, Ross-shire Scotland - died c. 1904 in USA) was a noted Australian bushranger of the 19th century. He either migrated from Scotland to Australia as a child with his parents in 1834 (Macklin 2005), or was born in the town of Boro Creek near Goulburn, Australia in 1830 (Morrison 2003). His real name was Francis Christie, though he often used one of several other aliases: "Frank Clarke or Christie"; "The Darkie"; "The Prince of Tobymen"; "General Gardiner"; and "King of the Road". His father, Charles Christie had travelled out to Australia ahead of the rest of the family and Frank is thought to have been the product of an affair with a part aboriginal woman known as Anne Clarke. He supposedly took the name Gardiner after a man who lived for some years with his family and who had taught him how to ride and break-in horses.

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[edit] Lachlan Gold Escort robbery

In 1862 he bailed up the Lachlan Gold Escort in Eugowra Rocks with Ben Hall and Johnny Gilbert. This hold up is still considered to be the largest ever gold robbery in Australia's history. The total value of the 2,700 ounces of gold taken was estimated at £14,000 (approximately AUD$2 million in 2006 terms). Almost half of the gold was recovered by mounted police following a raid on one of the Gardiner hideouts in the Weddin Mountains near Forbes in NSW. What happened to the remaining gold is still the subject of much speculation and rumour. Treasure hunters still visit the area and it is even rumoured that two Americans who were thought to be Gardiner's sons visited the Wheogo Station near the Weddins around the turn of the century.

[edit] Capture and exile

In early 1864 Gardiner was living with his wife Kitty at Apis Creek near Rockhampton, Queensland, and working as a shopkeeper. He was recognised by a customer and reported to police. Gardiner was apprehended in controversial circumstances by NSW police operating outside their jurisdiction. One of the NSW policemen used Gardiner's own horse 'Darkie' during the capture. He was taken back to Sydney, and sentenced to 32 years hard labour. Gardiner served only 10 years of his sentence after successful appeals by his two sisters. He was granted an early release, conditional on his leaving the country. In late 1874 Gardiner ended up in California having travelled via Hong Kong. He is thought to be the only Australian ever to have been exiled from his country.

Gardiner later owned the Twilight Star Saloon on Kearny Street in the "Barbary Coast" area of San Francisco. The circumstances of his death are not known with any degree of certainty, due in large part by the destruction caused during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It is generally thought that he died of pneumonia in 1904 as the Sydney Morning Herald reported that year (Morrison 2003).

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Crime in Australia
Regional crime: Timeline | Melbourne | Northern Territory | Western Australia | Sydney
Australian law: Courts | Criminal law | Law enforcement
Australian people: Bushrangers | Convicts | Criminals | Murderers | Prisoners
Australian prisons: ACT | NSW | NT | QLD | SA | TAS | VIC | WA
International: Crime by country
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