Australian Bushrangers Talks. |
Australian bushranger talks are presented by Al Heffron who lives in North East Victoria, Australia. Al has spoken at numerous locations on this historical and yet very topical subject and is available to talk at your club meeting, your association meeting or at your church, as an evening function or at a breakfast meeting. Al does not charge for any of these seminars or Australian Bushranger talks and would welcome your invitation. The introduction to his talk is set around the following: The Australian bushranger may have committed what appear to be dreadful crimes, and as such they became outside of the law of the land. This story is about just a few of these bushrangers, who have had the opportunity to trust in God, either before, during or after capture. But first, just what is an Australian bushranger? Most of these men committed the crime known as ‘Robbery Under Arms’ and as we have seen from the movie industry, the likes of the story ‘Robbery under Arms’ is glamorised to the extent that we cannot but admire their exploits. These exploits that obtain our occasional admiration, were generally committed using firearms, they robbed folk whilst threatening them with a firearm. Many and various are the crimes of bushrangers and they would have included cattle theft, horse stealing, stealing general goods such as food and clothing, shooting, attempted murder and murder. There are also instances where bushrangers have on occasion returned money to the victims, and even given away money and goods to needy folk. Unfortunately, whether we look at the bushranger with admiration or otherwise, the law must abide and the bushrangers did break the law of the day as they would steal from anyone and everyone as the opportunity presented. Frequently many of the victims would have been just ordinary working folk from similar backgrounds to the bushrangers themselves. Sadly, the bushranger would have stolen without concern for the welfare of the victim, and their victims may well have already been suffering badly in those early pioneering days. So yes, these bushrangers did commit many and various dreadful crimes, and a few of them, thankfully were able to believe in God, or be introduced to a consciousness of God, either before, during or after their capture. This is a story about those few that found Almighty God. However, one must first ask where did this God consciousness come from? Between 1788 and 1850 the English sent over 162,000 convicts to Australia in some 806 ships. The first eleven of these ships are today known as the First Fleet and contained the convicts and marines that are now acknowledged as the Founders of Australia. At this time, it is well to remember, that a good majority of these folk could not read and had no knowledge of geography, so they had little idea of just where they located in respect of other colonies or other settlements. With the First Fleet came Christianity. It was introduced as a quite natural civil procedure as the majority of folk generally in those days were very, ‘God Conscious’. In that day, denominations represented were Roman Catholic amongst Irish convicts and Anglican among other convicts and their gaolers. Governor Arthur Phillip charged the first chaplain, Richard Johnson, a Church of England minister, with improving public morality in the Colony. These many early Christian leaders were to play a prominent and still continuing role, in both health and education within Australia. These early Christians were very active in developing schools, hospitals, care facilities and numerous charities. The early settlers brought with them a mix of traditional churches, including the Church of England (later to become Anglican), Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Baptist churches. Freedom of Religion was later to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution. Al is available to talk at your club meeting, your association meeting or at your church, as an evening function or at a breakfast meeting. Elderly Citizens Clubs, Probus Clubs, Football Clubs, Retirement Villages, Church Groups, Men’s Breakfasts, are all welcome to invite Al to do a presentation. Al does not charge for any of these Australian Bushranger talks when they are within easy reach of Benalla, North East Victoria. Al would welcome your invitation. Al’s contact details are: Al Heffron 9 Hiscock Court Benalla VIC 3672 Contact Phone Numbers and Email are: 03 5762 6889 Mobile: 045 852 7187 aheffron@bigpond.net.au |