Fred ward captain thunderbolt biography of mahatma

Australian bushranger (–)

For the film, see Captain Thunderbolt (film). For the South Australian criminal, see John Kerney. For Australian furniture & interior designer, see Frederick Charles Ward.

Frederick Wordsworth Ward (c.

– 25 May ), better known by the self-styledpseudonym of Captain Thunderbolt, was an Australian bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island, and also for his reputation as the "gentleman bushranger" and his lengthy survival, being the longest-roaming bushranger in Australian history.^[1]

Early years

Frederick Ward was the son of convict Michael Ward, ("Indefatigable" ) and his wife Sophia,^[2] and was born in about , the youngest of ten around the time his parents moved from Wilberforce to nearby Windsor.^[3] Ward entered the paid workforce at an early age, and was employed at the age of eleven by the owners of "Aberbaldie Station" near Walcha as a "generally useful hand" although he rem