Book Description

A Western Horsemen tells the true events that inspired the writing of Robbery Under Arms. The author Rolf Boldrewood began writing Robbery Under Arms when he came to Dubbo as its Police Magistrate in 1881. It is a classic Australian novel set in the pioneering days of the late 1800s in the Western districts of New South Wales. Boldrewood himself related that the main facts of the story are true. He said that his model for the character Sergeant Goring was Sergeant Wallings of the NSW mounted police and his model for the character Starlight was the outlaw Midnight. From his base in Dubbo, Wallings had hunted for a small but very active gang of horse and cattle thieves since 1871. The gang mainly operated beyond Warren in the north-eastern area of the Dubbo police district. The leader of the gang, Midnight, was suspected of at least one and possibly two horrendous murders. In an attempt to capture Midnight, Wallings was shot and killed by him in September, 1878. Midnight attempted to escape to Queensland. The police hunt was intensive and just a few weeks later in October, only a few miles away from the border, he was discovered and fatally wounded by a party of mounted police. A Western Horseman is Sergeant Wallings’s story.