by Tracie Griffith
Dick the Bushranger and his accomplice William Darcy were apprehended by Constable Wigmore on 12th February 1859. Following Dick’s death, Darcy was charged with assault and highway robbery, and remanded in custody until his case could be heard before the Circuit Court in Portland a few months later (Portland Court House is pictured above).
The two men Dick and Darcy were accused of assaulting and robbing at Darlot’s Creek (near Portland), gave evidence at Darcy’s trial. Michael Carrol (grave digger from Portland) and Patrick Griffiths (labourer from Portland) testified that they were travelling from Port Fairy to Portland by foot, when they encountered Dick and Darcy’s camp by the side of the road. They entered into conversation with the two men and drank tea at their fire.
After Griffiths fell asleep, Dick offered to make Carrol another drink, which he gratefully accepted. Dick took Darcy to the creek on the pretext of fetching some water and the two scoundrels must have used this opportunity to hatch their plan. On their return, as the billy began to boil, Dick directed his accomplice to tie up both of their guests.
At this point Griffiths awoke and Darcy produced a gun, threatening: “If either of you stir, I will put the contents of this six-barrelled revolver through you.” Carrol and Griffiths were tied up by the two offenders, robbed and then abandoned in this state at the campsite.
Darcy was convicted on the strength of the victims’ testimonies on 27th April 1859 and sentenced to five years hard labour on the roads.
His prisoner record shows that he was transferred to Pentridge on 10th May 1859. The record also states that he was 23 at the time of incarceration, originally from Kingston in Ireland, Presbyterian, could read and write, had arrived as a free and single man in Port Phillip on the ship Tornado in 1853, and had no relatives living in the Colony.
These facts would have been difficult for the authorities to confirm in 1859 and I have been unable to verify Darcy’s identity to date, despite the assistance of a researcher and the treasure-trove of digitised records now available online. The earliest voyage of the Tornado to Australia was 1855 and although no passenger list has survived, our William Darcy is not in the Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1839-1923 data collection on Ancestry, or in other references that inventory ships’ crews for this period.
The closest match is a William Darcy of Scottish/Irish descent, born in 1831, who departed Liverpool (England) aboard the Cairngorm, arriving in Portland (Australia) on 5th September 1855. This birthdate would have made him 29 years of age at the time of his incarceration and it’s also doubtful he would forget the name of the ship that transported him to Australia, so the question remains open.
It’s probably the case that our William Darcy lied about both his name and his past, which makes his identity as much of a mystery as Dick the Bushranger himself.
Darcy would have had an incentive to lie about his identity if he was, for example, a convict on a ticket of leave. A ticket of leave was a form of parole within Australia until 1875 and any ticketed convict who got into trouble with the law risked having their freedom revoked.
Darcy’s prisoner record states that his conduct was good and he was moved to the Collingwood Stockade on 24th September 1860. The Stockade was a far more relaxed establishment, comprised of a number of wooden buildings and enclosed by a wooden fence. A row of bluestone cells was reserved for solitary confinement.
They [the prisoners] are most of them engaged in quarrying and stonecutting; and as they are scattered in different gangs over a considerable portion of the reserve, the vigilance of the warders who are posted around them at regular distances, is relied upon to prevent escape during the day. At night, bolts and bars are additional securities for their safe keeping.
THE AGE 7th January 1860
The result of the prisoners’ labour was the yearly sale of about £13,000 pounds worth of stone – sufficient to cover half the cost of running the Stockade.
It is not known what became of Darcy after his release from gaol. Given his name cannot be confirmed, it is virtually impossible to trace him – and that is probably exactly how he would have wanted this story to end.