Day's Ride, A

DESCRIPTION: "Bold are the mounted robbers who on stolen horses ride, And bold the mounted troopers who patrol the Sydney side." Walker pursues Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt flees into a stream; Walker shoots him there
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (Scott-BushrangerBallads)
KEYWORDS: outlaw death horse river homicide fight
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 1870 - Death of Thunderbolt
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scott-BushrangerBallads, pp. 38-40, "A Day's Ride" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "THunderbolt" (subject of Captain Thunderbolt)
NOTES [123 words]: Scott-BushrangerBallads lists this as anonymous -- but cites no source, and I haven't encountered it elsewhere.
Captain Thunderbolt was a famous bushranger, but this is not a traditional song. For some reason, Captain Thunderbolt doesn't seem to have attracted traditional attention.
Andrew and Nancy Learmonth, Encyclopedia of Australia, 2nd edition, Warne & Co, 1973, p. 539, has this to say about the subject of this song:
Thunderbolt, Captain (Frederick Ward) b. Windsor. A bushranger. He was gaoled for horse-stealing. He swam ashore from Cockatoo Island (1863) and became a 'gentleman' robber, specialising in courtesy, fast horses and highway robbery from Maitland to the New England plateau, until he was cornered and shot. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.1
File: ScBB038

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography