Hunter Valley Bushranger
James Young
James Young was born in Dublin c. 1806. He had been employed as an errand boy before he was arrested and tried at Surry Quarter Sessions, Newington, on 9 September 1833 for robbing a till. At trial he was found guilty and sentenced to 7 years transportation. He was sent to Horsemonger Lane Gaol.
On 21 September 1833, along with fourteen other convicted felons, he was admitted to the Hardy Hulk at Portsmouth to await transportation. They were all transferred to the Fairlie on 9 October 1833
On arrival he was assigned to Robert Cooper junior in Sydney. He was sent to Sydney Gaol for an unknown crime in January 1836. From there he was probably sent to the Towrang Stockade as in June 1836 he was admitted to Sydney gaol from Goulburn district having been apprehended after robbing a hut in that district. The Sydney Herald later reported the robbery....Thomas Dednam (Asia 1832) and James Young, runaways from No 5, road Party, were indicted for stealing two blankets and sundry other articles, the property of Edmund Lockyer, from his hut at Towrang, on the 7th May, one Thomas Woods being therein put in bodily fear. It appeared from the evidence of Woods, that the is hut keeper at one of Major Lockyer's sheep stations, and on the day laid in the indictment, the prisoners entered, armed with an axe and a stick, and making him stand in a corner, took away the articles laid in the indictment. A few days afterwards the prisoners were apprehended by Corporal Daley, of the Mounted Police. Dednam applied to have some property restored to him, but the Judge said that all he was possessed of must go to the Crown.
A sentence of 'Death Recorded' was made against both men. Their punishment was to work at hard labour on the roads or public works for a term of three years. They were sent to work in irons at the Carter Barracks.
James Young was admitted to Parramatta gaol in June 1841 and later forwarded to Hyde Park Barracks.
He was granted a Certificate of Freedom dated 17 June 1842, signed by the Police Magistrate at Port Macquarie
In March 1843 the Maitland Mercury reported his attempted robbery of a constable near Maitland. -
On Saturday last as a Constable from Muswellbrook was coming to Maitland, he was stopped by a man on the new line of road just beyond the accommodation paddocks, who presented a pistol at him and demanded his money. The constable also drew a pistol, and both stood hesitating for some time, neither of them daring to run away, and yet neither of them offering to fire. At length it was agreed that both should pass on their way and no notice be taken of the affair by either of them; but the constable arriving at the nearest house procured a loaded musket, his own pistol being unloaded when he met the bushranger, and went in pursuit of the latter, with whom he came up, and apprehended him, when it was found that the bushranger's pistol was likewise unloaded.
James Young was later brought before Magistrate Edward Denny Day and committed for trial at the Quarter Sessions for possesing illegal fire-arms and attempting to rob the constable. He was sent to Newcastle gaol to await his trial and was later forwarded to Sydney before being discharged from Court, however in September 1843 he was sent to Cockatoo Island under sentence of 7 years tranportation.
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