I first met her along the Woolshed Road, when the light of the day had just turned to dusk. She was sitting in the dirt of the road, the wagon she was riding in having lost a piece of iron from the harness. The blue of her eyes and golden hue of her hair are … Continue reading My Elly
After the Jerilderie raid, Joe and Dan called at ‘Lord Byron’s’, a shanty in Chiltern owned by Martin Byron and his wife Ellen Byron née Salisbury, an old sweetheart of Joe’s. The “miserable and ragged” outlaws were greatly “in want of food” and Ellen ushered the pair inside, allowing them to warm themselves by the … Continue reading Miserable and Ragged
Ellen was born in Sebastopol in 1857, to parents James and Ellen Salisbury. Her father had arrived in Australia from Norfolk, England, and had taken up the occupation of carrier, after trying his hand at mining. Tragically, her mother died in 1866 and James was left to raise the family on his own, which brought … Continue reading Ellen Salisbury
After a morning of herding his mother's milking cows with Paddy, Joe, dressed in his town clothes, begins his journey up to Beechworth along the rain corrugated Woolshed road. As usual, Joe had made sure to slip away while Margret was in the dairy, he found it easier to leave quietly than to explain himself. Aaron would mock that this was because Joe was frightened of his mother, but the reality was far less simple. He sought to be understood by her, he wished for her to see him as he was and not merely as the son she wanted him to be. Joe had no desire to be chained to life on the farm, he wanted to savour all that was around him, but that came at a cost. Looking up at the overhanging clouds, which again threaten rain, Joe hastens his pace passed Thomas Lloyd’s Eagle Hotel, where the Chinese cook, his queue braid wrapped around his head, kneels beneath the veranda scrubbing a cast iron pot.
An Outlaw’s Journal 