AustLit

'Who has not read the history of the vilest deed ever perpetrated in the annals of Christianity; a deed that has even made the country at whose instigation it was carried out tremble in fear, not at the consequences, but at the frightfulness and dastardliness of the Act' (advertisement, Goulburn Evening Penny Post 23 December 1916, p.3).

'The beginning of Vane's career of outlawry – the bailing up of a Chinese in pursuance of a wager – opens the series. His subsequent capture and release by his sweetheart; Ben Hall's many exploits in the Carcoar district, ending in the sticking up of the Keightley Homestead, and the shooting of Michael Burke, an outrage in which Vane throws in his lot with the Hall gang, Vane's remorse and surrender to Father McCarthy, his release from prison, and the peace which came in his old age, are portrayed with splendid backgrounds of the sunny New South Wales bush.'

Source:

'Spencer's Theatrescope', Argus, 12 March 1910, p.20.

Set in the 1850s, Robbery Under Arms is the story of two brothers who follow their father's footsteps into a life of bushranging under the influence of the charismatic Captain Starlight. Told from the perspective of Dick Marston, the narrative sees him and his brother Jim set out on a series of escapades that include theft and robbery under arms. The story also explores the conflicting emotions that Jim experiences as his life leads him further away from his mother and sister and from the life and love that he might have otherwise have experienced.