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Notes
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'Edited by Ambrose Pratt.'
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A play based on Three Years with Thunderbolt was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Hobart.(Roy Bridges, That Yesterday Was Home,p.216).
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1905 ed. (Sydney : N.S.W. Bookstall) listed by Miller and Macartney, but can not be traced.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Related Works
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y
Thunderbolt ; Or, Three Days with Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt the Bushranger
1906
1906-1909
(Manuscript version)x401510
Z1242973
1906
single work
drama
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form
y
Thunderbolt
( dir. John Gavin
)
1910
Sydney
:
Southern Cross Motion Pictures
,
1910
Z1242994
1910
single work
film/TV
historical fiction
crime
Very likely based on Ambrose Pratt's drama, Thunderbolt; Or, Three Days with Thunderbolt, the story is a semi-fictional account of the life of Frederick Ward (aka Thunderbolt). The story sees Ward, a cattle drover and horsebreaker from Windsor, NSW, trying to earn enough money to pay for his forthcoming wedding. His life changes, however, when he is accused of cattle theft and sentenced to seven years at Cockatoo Island. When he eventually escapes, he learns that his fiancée has died of grief. He sets out to get his revenge on society by taking up a life of crime as a bushranger.
The film's narrative includes scenes such as Thunderbolt being rescued from a police trap by a girl of mixed Aboriginal and European heritage, his raid on a country hotel, and his eventual death during a gallant struggle with the police.
