Victorian gold
The gold rush and its impact on cultural life

William Strutt
born England 1825, died England 1915

Bushrangers, Victoria, Australia 1852 1887
oil on canvas
75.7 x 156.6 cm
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Gift of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Bequest 1973
1973.0038

" Bushrangers on the St. Kilda Road, October 18th, 1852. On Saturday night information was given at the Police Station, that four mounted and armed bushrangers were committing the most daring depredations on the St. Kilda and Brighton road, about five o’ clock in the evening. Mr and Mrs Bawtree were stopped, bailed up and robbed, and upwards of fifteen other persons were also stopped that evening by the same gang.

… the outrage committed on Saturday … was of so unusually audacious a character, even in Victoria, and was so strikingly illustrative of the lawless condition to which we are tamely submitting … "

Cited Mackaness, G (ed.), ‘The Australian journal of William Strutt, ARA, 1850–1862’, in Australian Historical Monographs, part 1, vol. 41, 1958, p. 34.

Strutt resided in Prahran at the time of the hold-up and visited the scene on St Kilda and Brighton Road within hours of the bushrangers’ departure. Details of the crime were extensively reported in the Melbourne press.

Strutt completed this major work several years later, after his return to England.

    click image to enlarge