'GUILTY WRETCH THAT I AM' Echoes of Australian Bushrangers From the Death Row Memoirs of Richard Burgess

Hardback. At the time of publication, it was almost 118 years since the notorious Australian bushranger Richard Burgess walked jauntily up to the gallows in Nelson Gaol on a chilly spring morning. The life of one of the colony's most literate evil-doers came to an abrupt, certain end as the gallows trapdoor clanged open and the noose jerked tight around the leathery, weary neck. Burgess had spent more than half his life in the colony and had mixed it with the most infamous names in the annals of Australian bushranging - Harry Power, 'Captain' Melville, a youthful Ned Kelly. He had rotted on Port Phillip prison hulks and been a 'foundation member' of the then new Pentridge Gaol. Later he had terrorised travellers on the lawless goldfields and highways. Through his memoirs - written in Nelson Gaol while awaiting trial and execution - Burgess comes across as a forceful, violent man. But it is his literary and intellectual talents which provide the most extraordinary details of life and crime during those hard, harsh, early days of European settlement. Ken Byron has used Burgess' memoirs as a basis for extensive historical notes on transportation, colonial society and law and order. His notes comprise half the book. Illus., References, Bibliog. and Index. 176pp. 4to h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Lightly sunned edges. Vg+ in Vg. dw. A fairly heavy book which will require additional postage, particularly if posted overseas.