Ben Hall

DESCRIPTION: The singer condemns the murder of Ben Hall. Hall is made an "outcast from society" when his wife sells his land. He refuses to shed blood, but is finally ambushed and, abandoned by his comrades, is shot repeatedly
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955
KEYWORDS: death homicide outlaw abuse betrayal infidelity wife police Australia
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 5, 1865 - Ben Hall is ambushed and killed by police near Forbes, Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Meredith/Anderson-FolkSongsOfAustralia, pp. 164-165, "Ben Hall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PenguinAustralianSongbook, pp. 62-63, "The Death of Ben Hall" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BENHALL*
Roud #3352
RECORDINGS:
John Greenway, "Ben Hall" (on JGreenway01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ballad of Ben Hall" (plot)
cf. "Streets of Forbes" (plot)
cf. "The Death of Ben Hall" (plot)
cf. "My Name is Ben Hall" (subject)
NOTES [1421 words]: Ben Hall is widely regarded as "the noblest of the bushrangers"; Nunn, p. 21, includes him among the "'Gentleman' Bushrangers," and on page 113 reports that he was "the least violent and most tragic of the bushrangers." Manifold, p. 53, says, "[Frank] Gardiner was a big of a scoundrel, [John] Gilbert was a scamp, [Daniel] Morgan... was a black unhappy villain; but Ben Hall was a decent, steady-going man, neither a criminal nor a romantic." One bit of folklore told by Davey/Seal, p. 149, has it that, after robbing a victim, he gave him back five pounds to safely finish his travel.
This is perhaps why, according to Manifold, p. 59, "There are more ballads about and around Hall's gang than about any other historical figures, except possibly the Kelly Gang." He lists six, which appear to correspond to this song, the four listed in the cross-references, and "Frank Gardiner," which is somewhat tangentially related. Manifold, p. 63, says that there are also poems about Hall "composed in the other tradition, the literary tradition. There are about a dozen of these, not of equal importance." One such, "The Death of Ben Hal" by Will H. Ogilvie (not to be equated with the song of the same name), appears on pp. 181-183 of Stewart/Keesing-FavoriteAustralianBallads. Several, which Manifold considers primarily complaints about the police, appeared in newspapers. Later versions were even more self-conscious of their place in "literature"; even Banjo Paterson wrote about John Gilbert.
There are several songs about bushrangers associated with Hall, of which "Frank Gardiner" is probably the best-known. Manifold, p. 66: "I wonder how many of his mates would have achieved ballad-status without the glory that he shed on them. Until we come to the Kelly Kgan, no other bushranger approaches Hall in repute, not even the equally brave and courteous Thunderbolt."
The story is that Hall was hounded from his home by the police, and only then turned to crime. Even as a bushranger, he attacked only the rich and never shed blood. Boxall, p. 223, even tells a story of him arranging for the return of a victim's gun.
The truth is not quite so pretty. Hall was the child of convicts (Manifold, p. 53), born probably in 1837 (so Nunn, and Boxall, p. 251, says he was about 28 at the time of his death in 1865. Manifold, p. 53, says he married at 18 in 1856, which would mean he was born in 1837 or 1838). His father is described as having a clean record in Australia. Nunn, p.113, reports that Ben himself "worked as a stockman in the Lachlan district as a youth and then took up a selection and, in 1856, married Bridget Walsh. They had one son, Harry."
Manifold, p. 53, says that heand his brother-in-law John McGuire probably sold to Frank Gardiner and company, and even sheltered Gardiner, but innocently. But Sir Frederick Pottinger, the heavy-handed style didn't respect bystanders, arrested Hall for "highway robbery under arms" in April 1862, and Hall was denied bail, so he sat in prison for a month until his trial. Then came Gardiner's robbery at Eugowra Rocks (for which see "Frank Gardiner"). Back to prison went Hall. An informant brought evidence against Gardiner and others -- but said Hall was innocent. "Hall went back to the smoking ruins of his home and the stinking corpses of his cattle" (Manifold, pp. 53-54, who says that this was done by the police to teach Hall a lesson even though they couldn't convict him).
Nunn, p. 115, says that while he was being held, he found that his wife had run off with an ex-policeman.
From there his life took a turn for the worse; he sold off his land and eventually joined Gardiner's outlaw band (again see "Frank Gardiner," as well as the notes to "The Ballad of Ben Hall" for some other members of the gang); some said he was part of the gang that committed the famous Eugowra Rocks robbery in 1862 (although the chronology in Manifold, p. 53, says Hall did not turn bushranger until after Eugowra). Boxall, p. 217, reports that Gardiner may have been largely retired from the gang by the time Hall rose to prominence, but Hall and Johnny Gilbert (a Canadian who migrated to Australia in 1852 to seek gold, according to Nunn, p. 117) kept it active.
In the aftermath of the Eugowra affair, Hall was charged with armed robbery but was acquitted for lack of evidence. The police continued to harry him, though. "Put yourself in Hall's place. He had suffered so much while innocent; now he was undoubtedly 'consorting' with wanted men, and to that extent guilty. He went to the bush and remained a bushranger for the rest of his life" (Manifold, p. 54). His leading exploit in this period was taking a high official hostage and releasing him in return for a 500 pound ransom (Nunn, p. 117). At one time he held up a town -- and staged an entertainment for them and even invited the policemen he had captured (Manifold, p. 53). After one such party, where Hall, Gilbert, and Dunn danced with the prettiest girls in the place, the police arrested the three women (Manifold, p. 56).
Manifold, p. 56, suggests that Hall and gang did not think of themselves as thieves until after an attack on them ails made on March 13, 1865, in which the police were reinforced by a force of diggers. Suddenly the gang was fighting real people, not just robbing the mail.
Hall supposedly concluded that the life he was leading was too violent (and Manifold, p. 54, describes several fights which support this opinion), and decided to leave Australia (Nunn, p. 119; Learmonth, p. 247, says that "Hall killed no one but was not able to prevent his gang from doing so"). But instead it was Gilbert and Dunn who headed off for Victoria while Hall remained in the Lachlan (Manifold, p. 57). It was while staying with one Goobang Mick Connollly when the troopers found him; at least fifteen and perhaps as many as thirty bullets were found in his body (Manifold, p. 58), which made him a hero to the locals who hated the police. It is not known how, or if, he was betrayed (Manifold, p. 59).
Another bit of Ben Hall folklore has it that his posthumous child had birthmarks corresponding to all the bullet wounds he suffered in his fatal final encounter (Davey/Seal, p. 149). This child was borne by Mary Connolly (Manifold, p. 58, who does not say what her relationship was with Goobang Mick). Hall's grave in Forbes is still maintained by the locals.
Dunn and Gilbert, like Hall, were associated with Frank Gardiner's outlaw band. Either Gilbert or Dunn brought the full force of the law down on the gang when he shot a policeman, and Gilbert died along with Johnny Dunn in 1866 (according to Manifold, p. 58, Gilbert and Dunn went to visit Dunn's family in Binalong. Dunn's maternal grandfather John Kelly informed the authorities and poured water on Gilbert's rifle. Gilbert still fought but was killed; Dunn escaped with a wound, but was found and hanged on Mach 19, 1866). Johnny O'Meally, also mentioned in the song, was a member of the gang killed in 1863. Gardiner was eventually taken, but was paroled after seven years and allowed to emigrate to the U.S., where he opened a saloon and, it is said, was shot in a poker fight in 1903.
"Sir Fred" is Sir Frederick Pottinger, a "monumentally inept" officer of the crown who bungled the whole case -- and eventually managed to accidentally kill himself! According to Boxall, p. 223, he once ran across the bushrangers he was supposed to be pursuing but failed to do anything about them. "Sir Frederick was called to Sydney to attend an inquiry, and resigned his position in the force. About a month later he died from the effects of a wound from a pistol, accidentally fired by himself." Similarly Manifold, p. 57: "Sir Frederick was recalled to Sydney to face court-martial on a charge of cowardice. He shot himself in the coach going in.... Early in April... Sir Frederick Pottinger died of his self-inflicted wound in Sydney."
To tell this song from the other Ben Hall songs, consider this first stanza:
Come all you young Australians, and everyone besides,
I'll sing to you a ditty that will fill you with surprise,
Concerning of a 'ranger bold, whose name it was Ben Hall,
But cruelly murdered was this day, which proved his downfall.
This is not the text found in Manifold (which begins "Come all you young Australians, and hear what did befall Concerning of a decent man whose name was bold Ben Hall"), but the tune (which wobbles oddly between Mixolydian and Dorian) puts Manifold's transcription with John Greenway's version. - RBW
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