Books with author George Boxall

“No penny dreadful in any language could exaggerate some of the actual horrors described by the author ... from all these figures upon whom Mr. Boxall throws the limelight, no single one stands out with so glaring a ferocity as Ned Kelly, an almost Homeric personality, who was the very last of the bushrangers.” -T. P.'s Weekly The Story of The Australian Bushrangers (1908), by George E. Boxall (1875 – 1927) presents us with the history of bushranging, commencing with the great outbreak inaugurated by Frank Gardiner in 1861 up to the death of Ned Kelly, the last of the bushrangers, in 1880. About 300 persons altogether were implicated during these twenty years, and the story points out that this brigandage was evolved from the convict system established as the basis of the earlier settlements, more particularly in Victoria, New South Wales, and Van Diemen's Land. The book is full of exciting episodes, and is not without interest. Marcus Clarke's and Rolf Boldrewood's novels have done a deal towards giving us at least a nodding acquaintance with the highwaymen of Australia, but Mr. Boxall's encyclopaedic book is the first to traverse the whole history of the 'movement' in a comprehensive way. We find in it a complete record of the exploits of not only the more notorious bushrangers, such as Jackey Jackey, 'the gentleman bushranger,' and Ned Kelly, the last of these very young criminals (most of them came to a bad end before they were thirty), but details, culled from newspapers and other sources, concerning the more obscure 'operators' who never achieved more than local renown. Mr. Boxall is able, too, to supply the atmosphere without which such a book might easily be colourless and jejune. Bushrangers always made a point, these daring fellows, of bestriding the best horse flesh the colony could produce, for often enough their lives depended upon the fleetness of their steeds. Naturally they preferred racehorses when they were able to steal them. The most callous and brutal of the New South Wales bushrangers was John Lynch, who was transported from Cavan, Ireland, in 1831. He worked in a road gang in the neighbourhood of Sydney, being afterwards in the employment of a Mr. Barton as an 'assigned servant' on his farm, near Berrima. He ' bolted' into the bush, as many ex-convicts had done before him, and entered upon a career of the most extraordinary and relentless crime. Some of the subjects of Mr. Boxall's history were inordinately cruel, so that it is no wonder the country-side went in abject fear of them. Whitehead's gang, who ranged in Van Diemen's Land, captured a halfwitted fellow named John Hopkins, whom they accused of trying to betray them. By way of punishment a pair of bullock-hide moccassins were fitted on his feet, and in them were placed a number of great red ants, 'bull-dog' or 'soldier ants,' as they are called. They are an inch and a quarter long, sting as severely as a bee or a hornet, and never let go what they take hold of, continuing to sting until removed. It does not justify such cruelty, though it helps to explain it, to say that the convicts, who for the most part recruited the ranks of the bushrangers, were treated in confinement with shameless cruelty. Men, artiste in the use of the cat-o'-nine-tails, were employed to flog them, and this they did until the backs of their victims were one huge festering sore, in which the blue-fly would sometimes lay its eggs. There are hundreds of pages of interesting reading in this volume concerning these 'gentlemen of the road,' if that is the term to use of a country where roads were far from abounding. In especial much diversion lurks in the careers of Frank Gardiner, Ben Hall, and Thunderbolt, as also in that of 'Captain Moonlite,' who began life as a lay reader in the Established Church!

In this story of the bushrangers I do not pretend to have included the names of all those who have at various times been called bushrangers in A ustralia. That, as will be seen from what I have said in the earlier chapters, would be not merely impossible but useless. I believe, however, that I have collected some particulars about all those who succeeded in winning even a local notoriety, and I have also endeavoured to supply such personal characteristics of the leaders in the movement as may throw some light on the causes which induced them to take to the bush. My principal object, however, has been to make the picture as complete as possible, so that the magnitude of the social evil which the Australians set themselves to cure may be realised ;and it is generally believed in Australia that this cure has been so complete that bushranging will never again become epidemic. The story is a terrible one. Some of the incidents related are no doubt revolting, but it is necessary that even these should be told to show how civilised man may be degraded by unjust and oppressive laws. We are all creatures of the educational influences to which we are subjected in our youth, and therefore it is unfair to blame the earlier bushrangers; because they were the products of the civilisation of their day, and were not themselves responsible. But sensational as the story is, its tendency is rather to depress than to exhilarate the reader, for the story is a sad one, in that it shows a deplorable waste of what under happier conditions might have been useful lives.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of hist

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The autobiography of one of the UK’s most flamboyant and charismatic stars, guaranteed to shock, amuse and tantalize.In the thirteen years since the conclusion of the first part of his memoirs, Take It Like a Man, Boy George has reinvented himself. As that story closed, George was coming to terms with the fall-out from his drug addiction, the failure of his relationship with Jon Moss and the collapse of Culture Club. For lesser men this would have been the end, but for George it became the start of a period of startling personal and creative reinvention. Told with George’s trademark biting wit, brutal honesty and sparkling insight, this new book will bring his remarkable story up to date: from his role as a world-class DJ spearheading the dance music revolution in clubs all over the world, to his cutting-edge record label, and his role in the theatrical sensation Taboo.Tracing the momentous twists and turns of Boy George’s personal and artistic life over the last decade-and-a-half, Straight will not just be a riveting companion volume to the bestselling Take It Like a Man, but a truly fascinating book in its own right.From the Hardcover edition.