Since the Europeans settled in Australia there's been bushrangers. They were people {usually men} that roamed the countryside stealing horses, holding up farms and travellers as well as robbing banks and stores. 

 

A lot of bushrangers were escaped convicts. Others were young men looking for adventure. Convicts, people in government gangs and people assigned as settlers, were treated so badly that they couldn't stand it any longer. They had to spend all day carrying iron chains and making roads. Their masters wouldn't give fair rations and made them work long, hard days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They knew that they had lots more years to go before they could be free. Sometimes they would try to escape, then they'd head to the safest place: the bush. They would've heard of other convicts escaping into the bush but some of them got caught. A few of gave themselves up because they couldn't look after themselves, but some of them did okay. They survived. They sometimes tried to find other bushrangers so they could join them. The Aboriginals sometimes helped. They stole food from farms or settlers. They thought it was worth a chance, and they became, bushrangers.