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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'The story of a simple, native-born Australian who said no to British oppression, and fought it in the only way he knew how. Captain Thunderbolt was a political dissident at a time when that 'crime' was punishable by a Crown bullet and forced exile to the historical and social wilderness.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Exposing an Expose : Fact Versus Fiction in the Resurrection of Captain Thunderbolt
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , March vol. 36 no. 1 2012; (p. 1-15) 'In March 2010, the NSW Legislative Council passed a remarkable motion demanding the release of archival records relating to the death of the bushranger, "Captain Thunderbolt", who was shot by police in the New England (NSW) in May 1870. The interest in this 140-year-old episode from the colonial past reflects a suspicion that the police shot the wrong man in 1870 and that the colonial authorities engaged in a high-level conspiracy to conceal this from the public. More seriously, it has been alleged that the NSW government actively maintained a strict censorship over secret documents that reveal the true circumstances of the bushranger's death. Even more remarkable is the fact that the Legislative Council motion was employed to advance the claims made in an historical novel. This article considers the alternative account of Thunderbolt's death presented in Gregory Hamilton and Barry Sinclair's Thunderbolt: Scourge of the Ranges (2009), and investigates the allegations concerning the censorship of historical records in the service of an ongoing state and police conspiracy. We demonstrate that the case made in the novel, and promoted in the NSW Parliament, has been built on a misrepresentation of the nature and practice of state record-keeping in NSW.' (Publisher's abstract)
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Bull on the Wattle
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Quadrant , April vol. 54 no. 4 2010; (p. 120)
— Review of Thunderbolt : Scourge of the Ranges 2009 single work novel
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Bull on the Wattle
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Quadrant , April vol. 54 no. 4 2010; (p. 120)
— Review of Thunderbolt : Scourge of the Ranges 2009 single work novel -
Exposing an Expose : Fact Versus Fiction in the Resurrection of Captain Thunderbolt
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , March vol. 36 no. 1 2012; (p. 1-15) 'In March 2010, the NSW Legislative Council passed a remarkable motion demanding the release of archival records relating to the death of the bushranger, "Captain Thunderbolt", who was shot by police in the New England (NSW) in May 1870. The interest in this 140-year-old episode from the colonial past reflects a suspicion that the police shot the wrong man in 1870 and that the colonial authorities engaged in a high-level conspiracy to conceal this from the public. More seriously, it has been alleged that the NSW government actively maintained a strict censorship over secret documents that reveal the true circumstances of the bushranger's death. Even more remarkable is the fact that the Legislative Council motion was employed to advance the claims made in an historical novel. This article considers the alternative account of Thunderbolt's death presented in Gregory Hamilton and Barry Sinclair's Thunderbolt: Scourge of the Ranges (2009), and investigates the allegations concerning the censorship of historical records in the service of an ongoing state and police conspiracy. We demonstrate that the case made in the novel, and promoted in the NSW Parliament, has been built on a misrepresentation of the nature and practice of state record-keeping in NSW.' (Publisher's abstract)
Last amended 17 Jun 2021 15:39:53
