Australian bush rangers

[Ray Earle]

I was tempted to use some of the North Star Africa Boers. Get rid of some of the top hats though...

[Brian Smaller]

I use the Blaze Away Bushrangers in my Wild West games.

http://woolshedwargamer.com/2013/08/03/ethnic-gangs-in-my-old-western-town/

Cheers
Brian

[Leigh Metford]

There were times and places during Australia's colonial history when/where bushranging and frontier conflict overlapped, such as Tasmania in the early 19th century (the bushrangers fought the Aborigines for their women), and, to a lesser extent, Queensland later in the same century. By the time the 'wild colonial boys' were active in NSW and Victoria in the 1860s the frontier had long since passed by; Victoria was completely 'settled', and only western NSW remained in contention.

A British figure manufacturer (not connected to great Escape Games or DMH) is planning to release an Australian colonial range in the next year or two. 

[Leigh Metford]

A couple of further points:

3 Fingers, I'm not really sure whether your question in the above post relates solely to bushranging, or whether you're making a muddied reference to frontier conflict, but as Scurvy points out, in the later 19th century there were a number of Aborigines who either identified as, or were identified by white society as, bushrangers. They were men who'd lived with and worked with/for settlers, and thus were familiar with both cultures, such as the Governor brothers (the historical model for the fictional Jimmy Blacksmith), Johnny Campbell, and Major. Some also place Western Australia's Jandamarra (Pigeon, to the whites) in this category, but although he was a former station hand and Police Assistant, in addition to his own firearm-equipped gang his 'campaign' involved a large proportion of his tribe acting independently in separate bands  - so that three-year period in the 1890s when he was active has more of the character of a tribal uprising than merely an outbreak of bushranging.

Just in case you were actually enquiring about frontier conflict, and you're unaware of its extent, it's probably worth quoting from page 61 of the first volume of Henry Reynolds' comprehensive overview of that subject, 'The Other Side of the Frontier' (the other being 'Frontier'): 'Black resistance in its many forms was an inescapable feature of life on the fringes of European settlement from the first months at Sydney Cove until the early years of the twentieth century.' Reynolds quotes Edward Curr, a 19th century settler himself, who alongside a keen amateur anthropologist's interest in Aboriginal culture had first hand experience of conflict on three Australian frontiers through managing pastoral properties for his father (also called Edward). He said 'In the first place the meeting of the Aboriginal tribes of Australia and the White pioneer results as a rule in war, ... '. Reynolds also quotes a couple of other pioneers: 'I believe I am not wrong in stating that every acre of land in these districts was won from the Aborigines by bloodshed and warfare.', and of his own town another said that it 'had its foundations cemented in blood'. If you're interested in the subject these two books are the best starting point, but please recognise that they're just that; a deep understanding can only be gained from very extensive and wide-ranging reading.   

     

[3 fingers]

No i remember reading a book years ago and it mentioned someone visiting the camp of a native ,and he was a sheep stealer type,it had nothing to do with frontier conflict.

[Leigh Metford]

Cattle duffing (rustling), too - which still goes on, only with the help of trucks, these days.

Overall, the situation in the 'outback' in the 19th century wasn't all that different to that of the American west. There were even occasional 'range wars' of a sort - although rival station hands here tended to fight it out with stock whips, rather than guns. 

[FramFramson]

Not really for a bushrangers game. I mean there would be black trackers working for the police but thats just a matter of choosing the brown paint and picking a ragged western type if you can find it.

Bushrangers were all about robbing people with western goods or gold or money or all three and thus aboriginals were not targets.

Oh as usual I was thinking of pulp. I started getting ideas for games ideas in Aussie backcountry using aborigine figures for the 30's rather than the bushranging era, since I figure the same figures might work for both: either traditional fellows with very little on, Or types with more western interactions, in which case, they might have some combination of simple pants, shirts, boots, and/or maybe hats that work in any sort of western or frontier time or place from the 1840's to the 1950's and from America to South Africa to Australia.

[Leigh Metford]

Pending the release of dedicated bushranger figures, the best existing option is ACW guerillas with appropriate modifications, such as those made by Dixon. Unfortunately they're only available mounted. For matching mounted and dismounted figures there's a few possibilities in the Foundry Very Old West range, but they're only sold in packs with unsuitable figures. Maybe those desperate to get started could talk a friend into doing the pre-ACW border wars, sharing the cost, and letting them pick out what they want.

There are still Aboriginal people living the tribal lifestyle, so if you can get them, the Blaze Away figures are fine for the Pulp era. For detribalised Aborigines, a head swap between one of these and an African or African American figure in European clothing would probably work.   

[FramFramson]

Though, as has been pointed out, the Blaze Away figures are neither very good nor are they still available anywhere.

In any case, that's not pressing for me. It closes off a game idea or two, but nothing too terrible. But I'm really surprised that no other such figures exist.

[Leigh Metford]

Me too. Unfortunately, figure manufacturers here in Oz other than Blaze Away have avoided the subject because of an overblown concern with the irrational prejudices, hypocrisy, and historical ignorance of a vocal minority, and even that company appeared embarrassed about having Aboriginal miniatures in its catalogue (you could almost sense the relief when they were deleted). Despite those figures being listed as Australian colonials, the proprietor often went to tortuous lengths to pretend that they were intended only for 'prehistoric' gaming, and to avoid mentioning the - frontier - war. Hopefully the forthcoming range I referred to will remedy the deficiency, and being British, the manufacturer concerned is geographically and politically distant from any tantrums of false national angst.       

[Leigh Metford]

Oh dear.

Feel better now?

[Poiter50]

ROTFLMAO!

Oh dear.

Feel better now?

[Leigh Metford]

After a closer look at those Dixon figures I've concluded that they're not really suitable for adaptation to bushrangers after all: they have distinctively American bucket-style stirrups. It looks like we'll just have wait for the real thing.

[Cubs]

I didn't know Ostriches were introduced to Australia that early. Well fancy that.

EDIT: Wait, where's that ostrich post gone? Bloody hell, way to make me look insane.

Ah, here it is -

I'd like to see a sculpt of the South Australian Coorong Bushranger John Francis Peggotty 

His 'story' is here:

http://coorongcountry.com.au/html/coorong-bushranger.html

[joroas]

From a wargaming point of view its also right down the list of gamble conflicts, Mounted men armed with leaver action breach loading rifles vs people on foot with fire hardened wood and stone weapons. Who also it must be added never had the numbers needed for that sort of asymmetrical warfare and their entire way of waging war was completely different from the european concept of warfare an thus was totally unsuitable for combating this new threat.

Well, I think you just described every colonial war in history. So you just insulted nearly every gamer I know!

Luckily for us, manufacturers still continue to make Zulus, Maoris, Plains Indians, Masai, Ethiopians, etc..........

Maybe you should write letters to every manufacturer in the world asking them to stop and desist making those figures.

Even more, if you feel so strongly, why not give them your land back and return to whence your family originated.