Bandits, heroes and villains: A view from a settler colony

Abstract

‘Bushrangers’ were late 18th to early 20th-century bandits who lived in the Australian bush through the proceeds of crime, but today, they are national legends. A particular constellation of factors led to the white male bushranger's status as a national hero in Australia. By charting the development of bushranging historiography alongside bushranging in practice and the bushranging myth, this article will demonstrate the distinctive Australian and settler colonial dimensions of this bandit tradition. In describing how white bushranging men came to national prominence, the piece will also draw attention to those excluded from this legend—women and people of colour, with particular reference to Aboriginal people. The Australian bushranging myth, as it exists today, was not an organic or natural development. It was actively constructed by white settlers, including white settler historians.