This Day in History: 1861-08-06

Joseph Bolitho Johns (Moondyne Joe) was charged with branding and stealing a horse he caught at Moondyne.

He escaped on 9 August from the Toodyay Depot Lock-Up in the Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot Barracks building in Newcastle, taking Resident Magistrate Alfred Durlacher’s saddle and bridle, and the horse he was supposed to have stolen. Joe was re-captured soon after.

Sources:
Perth gazette, 4 Oct. 1861, p.2.
Ian Elliot. Moondyne: the man and the myth. 2nd ed. Hesperian Press, 1998, p.16.
Rica Erickson. Old Toodyay and Newcastle. Toodyay Shire Council, 1974, p.201.