QUEENSLAND DESPERADOES Wild tales of bushranging days

Hardback. Many areas of Australia have their folklore heroes, criminal or otherwise, and central Queensland is no exception. The author presents 6 stories about this district's bushrangers, each based on fact and retold in a thrilling way. Set in the second half of the 19th century, the tales range from the senseless murder of Patrick Haligan for 77 ounces of gold, to the unrelenting hounding by the police of the reformed bushranger Frank Darkie Gardiner; from the brutal and planned murders committed by a Gold Commissioner to the unplanned ones by the Kenniff brothers. The author also includes humorous tales, one about the amateur bushrangers who killed no-one, robbed no banks and sometimes offered to pay for what they took, and another about the high-spirited Wild Scotchman who dared the traps to apprehend him and then roared with laughter as, at point-blank range, a policeman's revolver misfired 6 times. Illus. + Bibliog. 216pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Cover illus. by Walter Stackpool. F. in F. dw.