ESCAPING WITH THE MOB

WHEN drover Harry Redford and a handful of mates decided to knock off a thousand head of cattle in outback Queensland in 1870 and walk them to Adelaide to sell, Harry became at the one time a folklore hero amongst the down-trodden, and a latter-day hero of the government.

Harry and his cohorts pinched the cattle from small mobs amongst the vast herds on Bowen Downs Station near Longreach, and drove them thousands of kilometres through some of the most treacherous country in Australia.

Along the way, the easy-talking Harry swapped a massive white bull worth over 500-pounds ($1000) to a station-owner for three pairs of trousers, 68kg of flour, 3kg of tea and some tobacco, and later sold the whole 1000-head mob to a South Australian cattle station for 5000-pounds ($10,000.)

Unfortunately for Harry & Co the law caught up with them in Adelaide before they could cash their 5000-pounds Promissory Note, and they were taken back to Queensland to face court in Roma.

Harry went before a jury in 1873, with a strange procession of witnesses against him including the station-owner who had bought the white bull and who was referred to in court as “a gentleman loafer,” and one of his fellow rustlers who ratted on him to give Crown evidence.

Another Crown witness had to be kept in a police cell to ensure he remained sober enough to give evidence, while a fourth was a Roma Lunatic Asylum inmate who originally helped plan the cattle heist – yet proved sane enough to give evidence in return for not being charged himself.

And although Harry offered no witnesses, the jury simply found him Not Guilty. As one juror told a Brisbane newspaper, “after all, he was a likeable bloke, a bit of a rogue mind you…”

The decision so infuriated the authorities that the Government closed the Roma Courthouse saying that any future cases “would be futile with (Roma’s) public sympathy to such rogues… cases will be transferred elsewhere to be heard by honest jurors.”

That Harry became an instant folk-hero is thanks to a NSW Police Magistrate and part-time author Rolf Boldrewood (real name Tom Browne,) who turned him into Captain Starlight in an 1880’s newspaper serial that later became one of Australia’s most famous colonial novels, Robbery Under Arms.

But any similarity between Rolf Boldrewood’s Captain Starlight and Harry Redford was tenuous… Harry had never been called Captain Starlight, he never staged a hold-up, and about the only connection between he and Starlight was his unique habit of posting a ‘cockatoo’ every night over his stolen mob.

Roma is still famous today for Harry Redford’s exploits, and as locals boast, to having around 30 hotel, club and restaurant licences for a town of 6500 people.

Visitors can see the restored Court House where Harry Redford was tried and acquitted, the historic 1880s railway station, (First War) Hero’s Avenue lined with its unique Bottle Trees, the priceless stained glass and leadlight windows of St Paul’s Church, and the biggest ‘store’ cattle sale yards in Australia.

There’s also a winery dating back to the 1860s, and the fascinating Big Rig Gas and Oil Museum that’s a must-visit. For information about staying in Roma phone 1800 222 399.

Visit Western Downs Tourism Website