Sam Poo: Chinese Bushranger

Sam Poo came to Australia from China to try his luck during the gold rush.

In 1865, Sam was scratching about unsuccessfully the worked-out gold claims in the Mudgee region as a "hatter" (a man who lived and worked by himself) when he decided to become a bushranger.

News soon circulated about a man of Chinese appearance who had stuck up a woman and her daughter on the Mudgee road. According to the woman, Elizabeth Golding, Poo said in pidgin-English, "if I cannot have my will of the girl, I will of you".

More reports surfaced about an armed Chinese man "bailing up" travellers on the Talbragar—Mudgee road. He had also threatened to shoot two stockmen.

Constable Ward, of Coonabaraban had been escorting a prisoner to Mudgee, when he met two men who claimed that a Chinese bushranger was robbing people at Barney's Reef. 

After finding Poo's camp, Constable Ward approached Poo and said, "What are you doing — put down your gun." Poo replied, "you policeman — me fire".  

Poo fired point blank at the constable, severely wounding him. As he fell, the constable fired at Poo, as Poo ran deeper into the bush.

Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Thursday 20 February 1936

The constable was found by two men and taken to Birriwa station and treated by Doctor William King, who rode 45 miles (72 kilometres) to treat Constable Ward. But he could not be saved. 

 

A manhunt in search of Poo ensued, until he was finally tracked down by Aboriginal tracker Henry Hughes in a gully 10 miles (16 kilometres) from Cobbora.

Poo fired at constables M'Mahon and Burns and ran off.

Tracker Hughes found Poo, and gun shots were exchanged.

Constable Todd fired and grazed Poo's head and neck, and Burns tried to grab Poo, but Poo tried to fire again. Burns hit Poo with the butt-end of his rifle, fracturing his skull.

On 10 April 1865, Poo was indicted on shooting at tracker Henry Hughes with intent to kill.

Hughes said in his testimony that Poo's gun shot hit the rim of his hat.

On 10 October 1865, at Bathurst Court House, Poo was tried for the murder of John Ward.

The government interpreter Sing Shigh, did not understand Poo's southern dialect. And Poo seemed to have no understanding of what was going on.

On 19 December 1865, Poo was hanged at the Bathurst Gaol. 

Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), Friday 13 October 1865

Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser (NSW : 1856 - 1861; 1863 - 1889; 1891 - 1954), Saturday 30 December 1865

The First Australian Greeks

The first known Greeks to Arrive in Australia came in 1829. 

The seven Greeks were convicted of piracy by a British naval court, and were sentenced to transportation to the penal colony of New South Wales. They were later pardoned. 

Two of the Greeks, Ghikas Bulgaris, known as Jigger Bulgari, and Andonis Manolis, stayed in Australia. Jigger Bulgari married an Irish woman, and they had many children together.

Jigger is buried at Nimmitabel Pioneer Cemetery. And Andonis Manolis' grave is in the cemetery at Picton.

Ghikas Bulgaris, known as Jigger Bulgari, Nimmitabel Pioneer Cemetery.

The grave stone of Antonios Manolis, at Picton's cemetery, NSW

The first known free Greek settler to Australia was Katerina Georgia Plessos (1809–1907), who came to Sydney with her husband, Major James Crummer, in 1835.

The couple met on the island of Kalamos, where Crummer was the island's commandant. Katerina, the niece of a friend of Lord Byron, was a refugee from the Greek wars of independence.

Mary Bryant: She Escaped the Australian Penal Colony

Born Mary Broad in Cornwall, England, the daughter of a fisherman. Mary was convicted of highway robbery for the theft of a woman's bonnet and transported to Australia on the First Fleet.

Initially, Mary was sentenced to hang on 20 March 1786, but her sentence was commuted to seven years' transportation by the Judge.

Taken from Exeter jail to the hulk, Dunkirk off Plymouth, to alleviate the overcrowded jail, Mary lived with other convicted women in appalling and unhealthy conditions. These hulks were run by private individuals as floating prisons.

Conditions on the Dunkirk were so bad that the officer in charge complained: "many of the prisoners are nearly if not quite naked." The women prisoners held on board were brutalised by the marines supposed to be guarding them. (1.)

A hulk at Portsmouth In which convicts wcro housed pending deportation.

Mary was transported aboard the ship Charlotte and gave birth on the journey to a baby. However, after arriving in Australia, she married a fellow convict, William Bryant, and they had a child together. 

William was put in charge of fishing to provide food for the colony. But he was caught selling fish on the side, and received a 100 lashes. He made a plan to escape by boat.

Bryant obtained a chart, compass, quadrant, two muskets, ammunition and food from a Dutch mariner. And on a moonless night, William, Mary and the children, along with seven convicts, escaped in the governor's cutter.

After a hazardous voyage of sixty-nine days, the group reached Kupang, on the island of Timor, and posed as survivors from a shipwreck.

The truth soon came out that Mary, William and the others were escaped convicts, and they imprisoned by the Dutch governor. 

The fugitives were sent back to Britain to stand trial, but Mary lost William and both of her children on this journey. Of the group, only Mary Bryant, Allen, Broom alias John Butcher, Lillie, and Martin arrived back in England on 18 June 1792.

Escaping the expected death sentence, the escapees were ordered "to remain on their former sentences until they should be discharged by due course of law".

James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck, a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, took up Mary's case and lobbied the Home Secretary for royal pardons for her and the four Botany Bay escapees.

On 2 May 1793, Mary Bryant was pardoned and she was released from Newgate prison. Mary returned to her family in Cornwall, and Boswell provided her with £10 a year until his death in 1795.

This view of Newgate Prison when it was inside the old city gate, shows 'Dr Hales' machine for the ventilation of prison apartments above the battlements.

However, Allen, Broom alias Butcher, Lillie, and Martin had to wait until 2 November 1793 to be released by proclamation.