1. Matthew Brady was an English-born convict who became a bushranger in Van Diemen's Land.
16 Facts About Matthew Brady
1. 2.
Matthew Brady was sometimes known as "Gentleman Brady" due to his good treatment and fine manners when robbing his victims.
3.
Matthew Brady's occupation in England was that of a gentleman's servant, probably a groom, as he was an excellent and even a graceful rider, and perfect in his horsemanship.
4.
Matthew Brady was convicted of stealing a basket, some butter, bacon, sugar, and rice, and tried at Lancaster on 17 April 1820.
5.
Matthew Brady received a seven-year sentence of transportation, arriving in Australia in the convict ship Juliana on 29 December 1820.
6.
Matthew Brady rebelled against the conditions in Sydney and received, over time, a total of 350 lashes in punishment for misdemeanours and attempts to escape.
7.
On 7 June 1824, Matthew Brady was part of a group of fifteen escapees from Sarah Island who sailed a whaleboat around the south coast to the River Derwent and spent the next two years as bushrangers.
8.
Matthew Brady was considered a gentleman who rarely robbed or insulted women.
9.
Matthew Brady described his captors as having no fixed leader, "though the opinions of Brady or Dunne are generally listened to", adding that "they frequently debate and quarrel for hours together, about their future proceedings".
10.
Three days later, Matthew Brady rode to Tom Kenton's farm and shot him dead.
11.
Matthew Brady was briefly captured but managed to escape and swore revenge.
12.
Matthew Brady saw a man limping in the bush near a shallow creek and hastened towards him; it was Brady.
13.
News quickly spread that Matthew Brady was caught and the townsfolk turned out to see the captured felon pass by on horseback.
14.
Matthew Brady was hanged on 4 May 1826, at the old Hobart gaol.
15.
Matthew Brady complained bitterly at being hanged alongside Jeffrey, who, as Matthew Brady pointed out, was an informer as well as a cannibal and mass murderer.
16.
Matthew Brady's life was dramatised on radio in "The Capture of Sorrell Gaol", an episode of Thereby Hangs a Tale in 1950.