Ben Hall Family 1802-1977
Benjamin remained at the asylum until his death on 28th April, 1877 and was buried at Liverpool though some accounts say Parramatta.
Thus ended the life of one of Murrurundi's pioneers a capable stockman and farmer and an able horse or cattle buyer who established a small farm.
It is noteworthy that it was not until December 3, 1885 that Probate of Benjamin's will was obtained indicating that Catherine and Ellen were desirous of keeping Benjamin's death out of public notice as long as was possible.
On Benjamin's death his daughter Mary was living in Queensland his son William near Forbes. His sons Edward, Robert and Henry were all living in or near Murrurundi and his daughters Catherine and Ellen at Blandford.
Dealing with the members of the family particularly: His step son Tommy Wade appears to have remained with Mary and her husband William Wright most of the time until William Wright died though he also appears to have been on occasions with William and Benjamin. He appears to have worked on various rural jobs. When Mary and her second husband went to Bourke in 1863 it seems that Tommy decided to return to Murrurundi. At the time Benjamin junior had achieved notoriety as a bushranger. On approaching Murrurundi in company with two other men he was mistakenly identified as Benjamin junior, arrested and placed in Murrurundi lockup. When the police realised their error he was released and may have stayed a while with Benjamin and Eliza before returning to the Forbes area.
Thereafter he was always associated with William.
He was probably the Thomas Hall who died on October 15, 1871 near Forbes where he was buried. He never married.
Mary the eldest daughter who married William Wright in 1851 lived with her husband at Green's Station, Kings Plains near Carcoar and had five children by him before he died near Forbes in 1861.
It appears that after her husband's death Mary resided with her children at Forbes where on April 8, 1862 she married George Huddy a saddler of that town.
The next year she, her husband and family moved to Fort Bourke (now Bourke). They remained there some years and then moved to Charleville in 1866 and 1869 to Cunnamulla where her husband was the licensee of an inn.
When in early seventies gold was discovered in North Queensland, she, her husband and family all moved there. On August 8, 1871 they were at Georgetown on the goldfields.
The Huddy's remained at Georgetown until George died in 1890. Thereafter Mary became licensee of the Limestone Hotel at Limestone in 1891. Later she relinquished the licence and moved to Charters Towers where on November 27, 1900 she married for the third time. Her husband was Edward Thomas McGonegle.
She appears to have remained at Charters Towers until her death from burns accidentally received while ironing on 22nd July, 1910.
She was survived by three of the five Wright children and six of her children to George Huddy.
The eldest boy William was claimed to have been the tallest of the family his height being 6 feet, 4 inches (197cm).
After his father left him in the Lachlan district he appears to have obtained employment on properties in that area and on February 16, 1857 he married Ann McDonald at Bathurst according to the rites of the Presbyterian church.
It seems that after marriage he worked near Bathurst until in 1862 he commenced mining for gold in the Weeden mountains.
At this time he was suspected by the Police of being associated with his brother Benjamin in bushranging and was arrested but was easily able to establish that the money he had was not the proceeds of crime.
He was working on Pinnacle Reef in 1864 but by 1866 was working on a station at King's Plains, in 1872 he was mining again on Mr McGuigan's lead on Billabong Creek about 20 miles north west of Forbes.
In the 80s he moved to Parkes where he joined the Salvation Army becoming an active member and remaining so for the rest of his life.
It is probable that members of the Army taught him to read and write which he could certainly do late in life.
He visited his brothers Robert and Henry in the Murrurundi area in 1913.
He died at Parkes on 4th February, 1915 and was buried there.
He had 11 children of whom nine survived him. He outlived his wife who died on July 7, 1914 also at Parkes.
Edward the next child lived in the Murrurundi district for half his life and in the second half of his life resided near Tamworth. He appears to have been of fiery disposition and until the eighties was likely to claim any livestock he could get hold of irrespective of who the actual owner was. On the other hand he was undoubtedly a capable farmer and stockman.
Before he married he had already fallen out with his father. He married Honorah Kennedy the daughter of a local stockman on February 13, 1859 but marriage did not cause him to reduce his stocklifting activities. Indeed in 1860 when he had a final clash with his father he was a frequent defendant in the Murrurundi lifting activities. Indeed in 1860 when he had a final clash with his father he was a frequent defendant in the Murrurundi Court.
As soon as the Free Selection Act of 1861 came into force he selected 100 acres on Chilcott's Creek quite close to the then location of the Great North Road. This land is now designated as Portion 1 Parish of Temi County of Buckland.
To obtain the land he would have had to lodge £25 (equivalent to at least $1500) nowadays which indicates that at that time he was prosperous.
On this land he erected a residence into which he moved his family. Here he began also to grow wheat being the first in that locality to do so.
In January, 1865 he was convicted of stealing and was gaoled for one month . This sentence did not deter him and he was soon again in trouble over stock.
Early in the 70s he acquired land on the Mooki River which became the centre of his pastoral activities though he continued to grow crops and reside on the Chilcott's Creek land.
He adopted the same method of stealing blood mares and foals as his father had done but as the Mooki River land was flat he dug pits on it in which the stolen horses and foals could be hidden.
On 8th june, 1874 he was charged with stealing cows from his father-in-law Patrick Kennedy's farm on Doughboy Hollow Creek. The charge was dismissed and on July 24, 1874 he issued a summons to his sisters-in-law, three of them, alleging that they had conspired together to give false evidence against him.
Bernard Haydon of Bloomfield on February 16, 1878 had his racehorse Deception stolen. He suspected Edward or one or his sons and himself made a surprise raid on the Mooki River lands but did not find his horse — Deception was found a few days later on the Liverpool Range near Murrurundi with his markings painted out. Edward denied that he or his sons had anything to do with the matter.
On August 16, 1878 Edward and his sons were observed droving dew-lapped cattle over the Range. At the time only three properties in the district had such cattle but how the cattle were obtained was not discovered.
Later in the same year Edward and three of his sons stole a thoroughbred stallion and three mares and foals belonging to H.C. White, then owner of Glenalvon. On January 1, 1879 they were all arrested. At Murrurundi Quarter Sessions on February 28, Edward and two of his sons were convicted. Edward was sentenced to four years imprisonment and his sons for shorter periods.
Not long after his release from gaol on August 27, 1883 Edward was again arraigned before Murrurundi Quarter Sessions charged with stealing cattle. This time the jury could not agree and he was released.
Soon afterwards he sold his Chilcott's Creek lands to his brother Henry and moved with his family to a farm on Moor Creek near Tamworth where he remained for the remainder of his life and no further charges were laid against him.
Edward died on April 22, 1925 and was buried in the churchyard of St. Joseph's Murrurundi. He was survived by five of his 10 children.
The next child Benjamin who became the notorious bushranger was perhaps the most unfortunate of the family.
When his father left him in the Lachlan area he was working as a stockman. Later he was employed by Matt Walsh on his station Wheogo. On February 29, 1856 he married at the Roman Catholic Church Bathurst his employer's daughter Bridget Walsh having overstated his age by three years to avoid having to obtain his father's consent to the marriage.
In 1860 he acquired a property of some 16,000 acres on Sandy Creek near Wheogo.
He was arrested in April, 1862 on suspicion of being engaged in highway robbery but was acquitted. When he returned to his property he found that his wife had decamped with a man named Taylor and had taken his infant son with her.
Not long afterwards he was again arrested as being a member of the gang which held up the gold escort coach at Eugowra in June, 1862. After being held for a while he was released and returned home to find his house burned and his stock left to die.
It would appear that from early in 1862 he was associated with the Gardiner gang of bushrangers and from about 1863 after Gardiner left he ran the gang.
Despite vigorous efforts the Police were unable to stop the depredations or arrest the bushrangers until April, 1865 when Sub Inspector James Davidson and five policemen and two black trackers received information as to a place where Benjamin, Gilbert and Dunn were to meet — a place in the scrub about 12 miles from Forbes and near Billabong Creek.
Back to the contents