Day 253 - Eugowra Escort Rock

The Gold Escort robbery

Australia's biggest gold robbery took place near Eugowra. The bushrangers, Frank Gardiner, Ben Hall and their gang robbed the Forbes  to Orange Ford and Company coach on 15 June, 1862. The bushrangers stole 170lb  of gold and £3,700 in cash. The value in 2008 money is about $4 million. The site of the robbery was a gully 5 km north of Eugowra, known as Eugowra Rocks. Coaches and wagons had to slow down to get around a steep gully which went down to Mandagery Creek. They also had to get past many large granite rocks. One of these rocks was called "Coonbong" (dead man) by the Wiradjuri people. Gardiner’s gang stopped two bullock wagons and left them in the middle of the road. When the gold escort coach arrived it had to slow right down and try to get past the wagons. The bushrangers, hidden behind the rocks, fired their guns at the coach. The coach driver and two policemen were wounded. One policeman had been shot in the testicles. The horses reared up and the coach was tipped on its side. One policemen assisted the wounded and they escaped into the bush. They went towards the Eugowra homestead for help. The other policeman went back down the road to a small hotel, Lyell's Shanty.
The bushrangers took the gold and money. They put it onto the back of one of the coach horses. They went back to their horses which had been hidden up the hill. They escaped into the bush and stopped at the southern end of Noble’s Lagoon to share out the bags of gold. They went to Mount Wheogo, north of the Weddin Mountains, where Gardiner had his camp.
A local farmer, Hanbury Clements, heard the gun shots and went to find out what was going on. He found the wounded men and helped them back to the farm house. He got on to his horse and rode the 43km to Forbes in the dark in less than three hours to report the robbery. The police arrived quickly, and with the help of an aboriginal tracker, Jimmy Dargan, they were soon following the bushrangers. Gardiner’s camp at Wheogo had a good view of the country. John "the Warrigal Walsh", (the brother of Ben Hall's wife), warned the bushrangers that the police were coming and the gang got away.
Most of the gold was still loaded on the back of the very tired coach horse. The bushrangers finally had to leave the horse in the foothills of the Weddin Mountains. They only took the money with them. The police got most of the gold back. Only Ben Hall and Frank Gardiner's share of the gold was not found