Richard Bryant was born in Dublin, Ireland in about 1836. He arrived to Australia with his parents on the ship 'Moffatt' in 1837. Bryant joined up with a William Mack in his early 20's and following some minor misdemeanours carried out their biggest robbery at J. Jackson's store, Mt. Alexander in 1853. After emptying the till and taking a quantity of gold they then cleared the store of as many valuable articles as they could find before leaving. From there they headed for Melbourne and went on a spending spree. But Constable Bloomfield arrested them and Bryant was sentenced to twenty years on the roads. In the first four years he spent time on the hulks, President, Sacramento and Success before being transferred to Melbourne Gaol. The gaols were overflowing at this stage with many criminals being lured by the chance to get rich on the pickings from the gold-fields. Due to the conditions in prison a mutiny took place in which Bryant was involved. The prisoners refused to work and when John Price, the Inspector General went to hear their grievances they battered him to death. Bryant was one of those convicted of 'Murder' and was hanged on 29 April 1857.