By Aaron Cordy
PACK the swag and an old rifle and head to the Hunter Valley on a daring adventure with Captain Thunderbolt (aka Fred Ward) and his young apprentice, William Monckton, in the fictionalised Australian history novel, Too Young to Hold a Gun, by Peter Spencer.
Captain Thunderbolt ranged the largest area of any of Australia’s infamous bushrangers for six years, which made him the longest-ranging outlaw. Known as the ‘Gentleman Bushranger’ because he never robbed women, he never drew blood, never shot a policeman and never shot the public, which endeared him to the public.
Too Young to Hold a Gun has taken about 12 years of research, and centres around the year author Peter Spencer’s great-grandfather, William Monckton rode with the outlaw.
“My great-grandfather, William Monckton, at the age of 13, ran away from a cruel stepfather to join Captain Thunderbolt as a Bushranger,” said Peter.
“The book is tied in with history and with Captain Thunderbolt, about the year that my great-grandfather rode with Thunderbolt. It contains a year’s worth of their exploits and their robberies.”
Bushrangers have been romanticised in Australian folklore, but Peter’s book shows the true story of life as an outlaw.
“These days bushrangers like Ned Kelly are seen as romantic. I’ve tried to portray that it was a rotten life, being hunted the whole time. They can never stay in one place longer than one night. It wasn’t a nice living in the Australian bush.”
To grab your copy of his harrowing tale of life on the run in the Australian bush, visit Collins Booksellers on Maude Street where Peter left a stack of signed copies of Too Young to Hold a Gun, before he shot through town.
