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Thunderbolt sites listed on State Heritage Register

Four sites relating to the life and death of the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt have been added to the NSW State Heritage Register.

The exploits of Captain Thunderbolt, aka Fred Ward, were recorded in newspapers of the day and were widely known across New South Wales.

The legend of Captain Thunderbolt has been romanticised over the years, helped along by his daring escape from Cockatoo Island in Sydney, his reputation as a ‘gentleman bushranger’ and for evading capture for seven years.

Thunderbolt claimed he would never steal from someone poorer than himself and was often reported as never having shot anyone – although contemporary newspaper accounts differ.

His success as a criminal is illustrated by the increasing rewards set out for his capture and despite his crimes he is remembered as the ‘Australian Robin Hood’ rather than a terrifying robber.

The four sites listed are:

• Thunderbolt’s Rock (the site of the first, and last, instances of highway robbery that Captain Thunderbolt attempted;
• The site of the former Blanch’s Royal Oak Inn on the New England Highway;
• Thunderbolt’s death site; and
• Thunderbolt’s grave.

Captain Thunderbolt was born Frederick Ward in 1835 to former convict Michael Ward and his wife Sophia.

The origins of the name Captain Thunderbolt are unknown, but are believed to have first been used by Fred Ward during the robbery of Campbell’s toll-bar at the present intersection of the Wollombi Road and the New England Highway.

On 21 December 1863 the innkeeper, a Mr O’Brien, was woken by a knock at the gate. When he asked who was making the noise the reported reply was: “I am Thunderbolt, the noise I made was the thunder, while this is the bolt” (referring to his revolver).

The robbery and the use of the name “Thunderbolt” was reported in the Maitland Mercury on 23 December 1863, although this source reports that Fred Ward used the name while riding off.

These were the beginnings of a bushranging career, lasting seven years, during which Captain Thunderbolt became the longest roaming bushranger in nineteenth-century Australian history.