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Australian Bushrangers

BILL THE PUNTMAN

William Rattray, better known as 'Billy', (not to be confused as Billy the Puntman), was one of the first to convey people across the Ovens River at Wangaratta, Victoria, and became notorious for overcharging.

The first record of Billy comes from a letter written by Thomas Scott Townsend, Assistant Surveyor from Melbourne who wrote on 19th September, 1839:

'Now I beg to call your attention to the great impositions the public are subject to on this road for want of proper punts with a scale of tolls fixed. . . .
The Ovens is crossed by a boat belonging to T. Rattray and he will not allow a dray to be put on it. I towed my dray across it got foul of some logs at the bottom and it was not without much delay that I got it out. Rattray also charged £1. . . .'

As the population and consequently the demand increased, punts made their appearance. The first was operated by John Crisp and some time later a second was ran by William Clark.

Clark's punt was constructed in 1848 or 1849 by Mr Phillip Keighran, the cost being £500. It was made from hand-sawn redgum and measured 30 feet long by 6 feet wide. Several lines of strong rope were attached at each end and a windlass used to haul it across the river. The punt was equipped with side rails and wooden flaps with chains at each end to assist loading and unloading on the banks. Two little boxed-in areas at each end protected the two workmen-needed to operate the punt-from injury while working.

After many years of complaints about the charges imposed on travellers at the crossing, the Government, under the direction of the Crown Lands Commissioner of the Murray District, H. W. H. Smythe, purchased the existing punts.

In the Government Gazette dated 24th January, 1853, there appears the following proclamation:

'. . . the ferry house situated at the Ovens River in the said colony to be a place at which tolls shall be collected.

His Excellency, the Lieutenant-Governor, directs it to be notified that the following Tolls or Ferry Dues, and no higher, shall be demanded, paid, and taken, at the Ferry House situated at the Ovens River in the township of Wangaratta in the said Colony; that is to say:-

Ferry over the Ovens at Wangaratta.

A Ferry having been established at the above place, Notice is hereby given that Tenders for a Lease for one year from the first day of March next, of the Tolls and Dues thereof, will be received by the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Murray District, until the twenty-eighth day of February, 1853.

The Lessee will be required to keep the Boats and the Punts in suitable repairs at his own expense.

A bond (in double the amount of rent) with two responsible sureties will be required for due performance of the conditions of the lease, and the regular payment of the rent, by equal monthly instalments, before the expiration of seven days after the termination of each month, together with a Warrant of Attorney.

Further particulars may be obtained by application at the Colonial Treasury or at the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Murray District.
By His Excellency's Command
W. Lonsdale.'

As many of the Commissioner's early records are incomplete, it is not known who obtained the lease for the first twelve months. By the 14th March, 1854, two tenders had been received for the period 1st April 1854, to 31st December 1854. They were William Higgins for £120 and A. S. Kirkland £135. The latter was duly accepted but Kirkland refused to execute the contract. Consequently, on 2nd May 1854 a further tender of £20 was accepted from Edward Denny beginning from the 1st May. Knowbody knows how he obtained the job, but the person who operated the punt was John Hyde, better known as "Billy the puntman". If travellers thought that the former William Rattray or William Clarke, were bade enough, Billy the puntman was even worse.

John Sadleir later wrote:-
'Billy took every possible opportunity to overcharge his customers. When any of these made complaint and pointed Billy to the authorised charges painted on the notice board, Billy's answer was 'Oh, them's out of date,' and pulling out of his pocket some pieces of dirty crumpled paper would say, "Here's the b----y Act, read it for yourself. As no one could make out two consecutive words of the paper, the traveller had to pay and look pleasant.'

Billy the puntman would make no concessions, and was even reported for attempting to charge the Gold Escort, who were entitled to free passage.
Following the building of the bridge in 1855, the punt became obsolete and Billy was out of a job.

The next record concerning Billy appeared in the Police Gazettes of the 15th and 18th September, 1856. The report of the 18th, which was more detailed, went as follows:

'On the morning of the 14th instant, the mailman, while proceeding from Wangaratta to Benalla, was feloniously stopped and robbed of the mail bags, as also two horses carrying them, when near Green's Mail Station, between Greta (Fifteen Mile Creek), and the Seven Mile Creek, Wangaratta. A man named as "Billy, or Joe the puntman", and another man, who cannot be described, are charged with committing the offence. Billy, or Joe the puntman, formerly kept the Wangaratta punt, and is well known to draymen and drivers on the roads, he is about 5 feet 7 inches high, 35-40 years of age, black whiskers and moustache, walks lame. He was armed with a double barrelled gun and a revolver pistol. One of the animals stolen was a dark brown mare, WP near shoulder, but no description of the other has been received. Information to the officer in charge of Police, Beechworth, or the officer in charge of Detective Police, Melbourne.-15th September, 1856.

Description of part of the missing property.-Registered letters, the contents of which are not yet known.

A small parcel is also missing containing 14 gold rings, J.G. marked on each of them.-Melbourne, 19th September, 1856.'

Francis Hare stated:

'. . . Whilst I was travelling by coach to Melbourne, the mailman, riding one horse and leading another with the mails, passed the coach. The driver of the coach had hardly gone a quarter of a mile when we found the mailman standing on the side of the road without his horses. . . . In those days I never went anywhere without a revolver . . . I told the driver to take the horse out of the harness at once, leaving the bridle on him. I made a pair of reins of a piece of rope, jumped on him barebacked and rode in pursuit as fast as I could go in the direction Billy had gone. For some distance I easily followed the tracks of the two horses but they led into stoney ground, and not having much time to spare, I lost the track altogether.'

On the 1st October, 1856, Billy was arrested in Albury by Chief Constable Henry Ringland. On searching him he was found to be carrying £77/6/0 and a gold ring. He was taken to Beechworth and at a preliminary hearing on the 8th October, was committed for trial. On Saturday, 18th October, 1856, he was brought before Mr Justice J. G. Forbes and Dr. Crawford J.P. at the Courthouse in Beechworth, on a charge of highway robbery. Several witnesses were examined, amongst whom, were William White, the Mail Driver, Edward Lucas, the Wangaratta postmaster, and several police constables.

The Constitution, of 21st October, 1856, reported:-

'The prisoner, in defence, said that he considered it very hard that he should have been taken into custody on such slight and conflicting evidence, stating that the mail driver had been in doubt whether the occurrence took place on the 12th or 13th of September, until he perused the almanac . . .'
Billy was, however, found guilty and sentenced to 12 years with hard labour.

On the trip to take him to Melbourne he made several attempts to escape, and according to some accounts was supposed to have finally hung himself with a strip of blanket in his cell at Donnybrook. But this was most likely not the case, as is shown in the following newspaper article, and the inquest into his death:-

The Constitution, of 6th November, 1856 quoted from the Kilmore Advocate:-'Billy, the puntman. . . Since the above was in type, we have learned that Billy, the puntman, has ceased to exist, while being conveyed from Beechworth to Melbourne he was seized with fever, brought on by an anxiety of mind and suddenly expired when within 17 miles from Melbourne. This occurred on Tuesday last (28th October, 1856). . . . A rumour has been current in Beechworth that the criminal had died by his own hands, having taken poison, which he was supposed to have concealed about his person. We understand that he was heard to say that he had the means of 'settling' himself whenever he liked. The usual custom of clothing prisoners in prison dress is not adopted in the Beechworth gaol, and it is certainly possible that he may have had the poison secreted, say, for instance, in the waist band of his trousers. We cannot understand why the inmates of the prison should not be clothed in accordance with the regulations that exist at other penal institutions, etc.).'

The Assistant Government Statist supplied the following cause of death:

'John Hyde (Billy the puntman) died at Cragie Burn on 28th October, 1856, due, according to a Coroner's inquest, to congestion of the brain.'

Glen Rowen Cobb & Co Pty Ltd

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