Jack the Rammer

Jack the Rammer, alias of William Roberts, was a bushranger in the Monaro District near Cooma in New South Wales during the mid-1830s.

Life

Born and raised in England, William Roberts was a cooper by trade, with a wife and three children, when he was sentenced seven years for stealing a bucket and transported to New South Wales.[1] He arrived in Australia in September 1833, and escaped from his first convict assignment the following year.[1] Placed in Goulburn Jail he met fellow convict Joseph Keys and the pair escaped together.[1]

Roberts and Keys headed for the Monaro District, where they met up with Edward Boyd, and began bushranging.[1] In December 1834, the three "stuck up" the station of Joseph Catterall, badly wounding the station overseer Charles Fisher Shepherd, who, in turn, shot and killed Roberts.[1][2] In January 1835, troopers caught up with Boyd and Keys, and Boyd was killed.[1] Keys was captured and pleaded guilty.[3]

References
  1. Barbara Malpass Edwards (1 April 2007). Australia's Most Notorious Convicts: From Thieves and Bushrangers to Murderers and Cannibals. Exisle Publishing. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0-908988-88-4.
  2. "BUSHRANGING". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 5 March 1879. p. 6. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  3. "Law Intelligence". The Australian. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 8 May 1835. p. 2. Retrieved 18 December 2013.


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