Often considered the godfather of bushranging, he was responsible for the largest gold heist in colonial Australian history and introduced many of the big names to bushranging. Gardiner was born in Rosshire, Scotland in as Francis Christie. He had a brother and two sisters who accompanied he and his parents on board the ship James to New South Wales in Settling at Boro Creek near Goulburn, the family kept a low profile until Frank hit adolescence.
Young Frank Christie first veered from the straight and narrow path when he began adopting false names to engage in stock theft. Teaming up with Jack Newton he stole two racehorses from Jugiong Station and took them across the border into Victoria. Adding William Troy to the cohort, they stole more horses and accrued a mob of thirty they planned to sell in Adelaide. The plans were scuppered, however, when police nabbed the offenders near Geelong.
Christie was given five years for horse stealing. He was first accommodated in Melbourne Gaol before being transferred to the stockade at Pentridge. On 27 March Frank Christie escaped from Pentridge and went bush. Christie assumed the name Clarke and teamed up with Ted Prior and spent a couple of years stealing stock in the Abercrombie Ranges. In March he began his sentence and while inside he met John Peisley and the two gelled immediately.
It is possible that he may also have encountered Frederick Wordsworth Ward later known as Captain Thunderbolt while he was there. It was widely believed that the animals he was slaughtering were stolen, but nobody could pin him for it until Sir Frederick Pottinger arrived in town.
Francis Frank Gardiner ? The family reached Sydney in the James in and settled at Boro near Goulburn. He went to Victoria and in October as Francis Christie was sentenced to five years' hard labour at Geelong for horse stealing. In March he was convicted as Francis Clarke at Goulburn on two charges of horse stealing and imprisoned on Cockatoo Island.
In December he was given a ticket-of-leave for the Carcoar district, but broke parole and went south and by the end of as Frank Gardiner he had a butchery at Lambing Flat but skipped bail.
Known as 'The Darkie', he began highway robbery on the Cowra Road. William Bede Dalley — politician in Australia. Henry Parkes — politician and journalist in Australia. From View all related items in Oxford Reference ». Search for: 'Frank Gardiner' in Oxford Reference ». All Rights Reserved. Although several of the men were apprehended, and just over half of the gold and cash found, their leader disappeared, leaving his gang under the leadership of his devoted friend, Ben Hall Ben was married to Bridget "Biddy" Walsh, whose younger sister Catherine "Kitty" left her husband John Brown for her lover, Frank Gardiner and disappeared with him.
In early , a man named Mark Brown recognized Frank Gardiner who was living with his mistress Kitty as Mr and Mrs Christie, the shopkeepers at [3] Apis Creek near [1] Rockhampton he reported the matter to the police [4] was found , tried in Sydney , and sentenced to thirty two years imprisonment. In she passed away at Waipatukaha at the age of twenty-five. Gardiner served only 10 years of his sentence after appeals by his two sisters he was granted an early release, conditional on his leaving the country he was taken to Newcastle and put on a ship to Hong Kong, next he was heard of in San Francisco, where he became a saloon proprietor Gardiner he owned the Twilight Star Saloon on Kearny Street in the Barbary Coast area of [5] San Francisco ,there are many rumours about his life including a claim he married a rich widow who bore him two sons none have been proven.
The circumstances of his death are not known there were many unsubstantiated rumours, one that he died of pneumonia in , but no records were found due in large part by the destruction caused during the San Francisco earthquake there are various reports of his death ranging from the early s to but it is not known for sure. More Genealogy Tools. Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA. Login to find your connection.
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