Ben Hall

The following is the transcript for a speech I did for my Colonial Australia class. This was in 2001. We had to deliver a speech about a famous Australian bushranger (but not Ned Kelly). I got an A+.

BEN HALL

When you think of bushrangers, you usually think of scruffy, middle-aged men who spend their entire lifetimes scamming and stealing. And in many cases, you are correct. But a number of bushrangers had entered the life of crime at a very young age, and weren't necessarily grumpy old men.
    Ben Hall was from the gold rush era. Born in 1837, he was the son of convicts. Growing up, he worked as a stockman in the Lachlan River district in New South Wales. When he was 19, he married in Bathurst to Bridget Walsh, who was only 16.
    By 1860, he was successful in selling cattle to the miners on the Lachlan goldfields. He became under the influence of the Weddin Mountains mob. The activities too him further from the law and closer to becoming the leader of a lawless band of bushrangers.
    Hall had been involved in a few robberies and after co-raiding the Pinnacle Police Post in February 1863; he began his bushranging career with a passion. In August, he, John Gilbert and Johnny Vane held up a store in Junee. They took two horses and goods valued at 250 pounds.
    On the 3rd of October 1863, the gang committed their most audacious raid. It took place in Bathurst, the oldest and largest town west of the Blue Mountains. On that Saturday evening, the 6000 residents went about their lives. The gang entered a weaponry shop and inspected the goods, but thought to themselves: "Hey - we've got better."
    The alarm sounded as they were bailing up a jeweller's shop. They ducked into the Sportsmans' Arms Hotel, bailed it up and had a few beers. The police patrols thundered about outside in serious confusion.
    On the 20th of May 1864, Hall and two remaining sidekicks bailed up the Bang Bang Hotel at Koorawatha. A running gun battle with two plainclothes policemen followed, and the gang was forced to retire.
    Captain F.R.L. Rossi of Goulburn was outspoken against bushrangers. The Hall gang decided to give this son of an Italian count a lesson. So they went to the Rossiville homestead on the 8th of November 1864, but Captain Rossi was not home. They hadn't come all that way for nothing, so they did some ransacking, had a meal and nicked some horses.
    And so it came to an end in 1865, where the gang could be shot by anyone if they came upon them. In May, the gang had been separated temporarily. Hall camped in Forbes for a night, while the police moved into position. At dawn, he walked to retrieve his horse, and a sub-inspector challenged him. Hall ran, but the police opened fire; ending his life. He was twenty-seven years old.
    He died on the 5th of May in 1865
    136 years later, his spirit is still alive

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