Frank Gardiner was an Australian bushranger who became notorious for his lead role in the largest gold heist in Australian history, at Eugowra, New South Wales in June 1862. Gardiner and his gang, which included bushrangers Ben Hall, John O’Meally and John Gilbert, made off with a pile of cash and 77 kilograms of gold, worth about $10 million in modern Australian currency.[1] (Image: Wikipedia)
A Brit who relocated thousands of miles to start afresh in Australia was banished and forbidden to return following a horrific string of crimes.
Frank Gardiner was expelled from the budding nation in the 1870s, shortly after Australia ceased accepting convicts. He was a notorious and feared bushranger with a well-earned reputation who – along with various others operating outside the law – had been a blight on the country.
Gardiner gained infamy for his leading role in the largest gold robbery in Australian history, at Eugowra, New South Wales.
Gardiner and his gang pilfered cash and approximately 77kg in gold – equivalent to around £5million today. The Gardiner-Hall gang consisted of some of the most infamous bushrangers in history, so named because they were armed robbers residing in Australia’s rugged and remote bushland.
Their offences included robbing small-town banks, holding up coach services and raiding pastoral estates. Bushrangers were also not shy about engaging in gunfights with colonial police, reports the Mirror.
The Gardiner-Hall gang comprised criminals including Gardiner, Ben Hall, Fred Lowry, Michael Burke, John O’Meally, Henry Manns, Johnny Gilbert and John Dunn.
One of the robberies took place in New South Wales (Image: undefined)
Bushrangers often met a gruesome end with Hall, Gilbert, John O’Meally, and Lowry shot dead – mostly by police. Burke fatally shot himself after sustaining a gut wound, while Dunn and Manns were hanged by the authorities.
Born as Francis Christie in Rosshire, Scotland, Gardiner migrated to Australia with his family in 1834. His family worked on the land, moving around and leasing property, with his father serving as an overseer.
As a young man, Gardiner found work as a stockman on properties in central Victoria.
However, faced with the prospect of hard graft for little reward, Gardiner began to cut corners in an attempt to get ahead. In 1850, the young man and two accomplices stole horses from William Morton’s station near Serpentine, some 40 km northwest of what is now Bendigo.
Their plan was to sell the horses, but Morton tracked them down to Bilston’s Inn, where they were apprehended. Gardiner, tried under his birth name, Christie, was sentenced to five years’ hard labour at Geelong on October 22, 1850.
Gardiner managed to escape while part of a work party outside Pentridge Prison on March 20, 1851. While most of the convicts involved were recaptured within days, Gardiner had already left the district and made his way to New South Wales.
Trial of Gardiner at the Supreme Court (Image: Wikipedia)
Once there, Gardiner quickly returned to his horse-stealing ways and was caught trying to sell stolen horses at Yass in 1854. This time, he was handed a 14-year sentence and was incarcerated on the notorious Cockatoo Island, where he met fellow bushranger John Peisley, who was later hanged.
Gardiner, now under the alias Frank Clarke, was granted conditional freedom in December 1859, with the stipulation that he remain within the Carcoar district. The former convict appeared to be embarking on a new path when he opened a butcher’s shop at Lambing Flat, seemingly attempting to lead an honest life.
However, this pretence was short-lived as he was arrested for cattle rustling and granted bail in 1861. Gardiner once again fled and joined forces with Peisley before being briefly apprehended following a shootout with two troopers.
He managed to bribe one of the officers and made his escape, subsequently aligning himself with infamous outlaw, Hall.
In June 1862, the bushranger and his gang, which included Hall, Dan Charters and Gilbert, robbed the Lachlan Gold Escort near Eugowra. Much of the stolen gold was later recovered by mounted police who ambushed the gang on Wheoga Hill, near Forbes.
The fate of the remaining gold remains unknown, and treasure hunters continue to visit the area to this day. There are also rumours that two Americans, believed to be Gardiner’s nephews, visited the Wheogo Station near the Weddins in 1912 claiming to be miners.
Local gossip suggests they travelled from the United States to retrieve the missing gold.
Following the grand gold heist, Gardiner decided to abscond to Queensland. Between 1863 and 1864, he was living with Ben Hall’s sister-in-law Kitty Brown, nearly 1,000 miles north of the robbery site.
Despite the vast distance from the crime scene, he was still identified and reported to the Sydney police.
Gardiner was swiftly apprehended by police operating beyond their jurisdiction, aided by troopers of the paramilitary Native Police. One of the officers even commandeered Gardiner’s own horse, Darkie, during the arrest.
The bushranger was returned to Sydney and in July 1864, he was handed a sentence of 32 years’ hard labour.
In 1872, Gardiner’s sisters organised a petition for his early release. It was set to be presented to the new Governor of New South Wales, Sir Hercules Robinson.
Frank Gardiner (Image: Wikipedia)
As a representative of the English sovereign, the Governor had the power to exercise the Royal prerogative of mercy for felony cases not subjected to capital punishment.
After careful deliberation, Robinson decided that if Gardiner’s conduct in prison remained exemplary, he could be released after serving 10 years, on the condition that he would become an exile from the Australian colonies and New Zealand. Gardiner agreed to the terms and ended up in the United States in 1874.
He quickly took over the Twilight Star Saloon on Kearny Street in San Francisco’s Barbary Coast area. Just a few months later, he moved to the more upscale Brannan Street, closer to the docks.
He remained a popular figure amongst Australians arriving in San Francisco, who would often enquire about him and enjoy a drink at his bar.
Little is known about Gardiner’s fate, but he outlived most of his contemporaries, many of whom were hanged or shot. Numerous reports suggest that he died in 1882 and it was speculated that he was buried in a pauper’s grave near the Legion of Honor park in San Francisco.
However, the exact circumstances of his death remain uncertain, largely due to the loss of records during the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
