Thomas Clarke (1840? - 1867), by unknown photographer, 1867, courtesy of State Library of New South Wales. Original : DL Pd 788. [with his brother John (left) in Braidwood gaol.Image Details

CLARKE FAMILY: THOMAS (1840?-1867) and JOHN (1846?-1867), bushrangers, were born near Braidwood, New South Wales, sons of John Clarke. Their father had arrived in 1825 at Sydney in the Royal Charlotte with a seven-year sentence; he was assigned to a pastoralist. A shoemaker by trade, he later tanned and dressed hides and made boots for convict servants at Mount Elrington near Braidwood where he rented a small block and in the 1860s became a free settler. He did not farm his land but appears to have lived by stealing cattle. When gold had been discovered in the district in 1852 he and his sons stole the diggers' horses, planted them and then claimed the rewards. Clarke reckoned this ...

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Source:

Australian Dictionary of Biography