Jack Bradshaw, swagman and outback confidence man turned bushranger, was imprisoned for most of the twenty years between 1880 and 1900. On the cover and title page of The True History of the Australian Bushrangers (c.1930), Bradshaw has included the words, 'who was personally acquainted with them all': a proud boast about his knowledge of many notorious outlaws. Under his portrait in the work are the words, 'Jack Bradshaw, Last of the Australian Bushrangers'. Morris Miller and Frederick Macartney (qq.v.), in Australian Literature: A Bibliography to 1938, note that Bradshaw was critical of the bushranging romances of Rolf Boldrewood and Ambrose Pratt (qq.v.).
According to his own account in The True History of the Australian Bushranders, Bradshaw had conducted himself in an exemplary manner after his release from prison. He became known as as a topical balladeer, a Domain (Sydney) orator and a chronicler of crime.
John Meredith and Rex Whalan (qq.v.) in their folklore study, Frank the Poet: The Life and Works of Francis MacNamara, link their subject with Bradshaw, who published a version of MacNamara's popular ballad, 'The Convict's Arrival', in The Quirindi Bank Robbery (c. 1899) and subsequent publications.
