This is a test heading

Date of Birth	26 April, 1798
Date of Baptism	27 May, 1798 -St Luke's Church, Old Street, Finsbury, London
Parents	Edward Moulder & Elizabeth Turner - Parish of Bladon, County of Oxford. I don't know any details of Joseph's siblings, however we know that his father was one of 8 children, all born in Bladon between 1750 and 1765. Edward Moulder was baptised on 27 September, 1761.
Arrested	Suspected theft of a silk handkerchief from Mr George Dougal, worth 5 shillings
Convicted	29 May, 1816, Old Bailey, Middlesex Gaol, London
Sentence	Transportation for Life
Age when sentenced	17 years old
Religion	Protestant
Height	5 foot, 1 3/4 inches
Complexion	Fair
Hair	Brown
Eyes	Grey
Occupation	Labourer
Arrived Sydney	7 November, 1818 aboard "Morley II" - 18 months after being sentenced
Employer No 1	Convict servant to James Blackman of Bathurst (on 27 April, 1825, James wrote as testimony as to the character of Joseph Moulder for a Ticket of Leave) Question? In 1823 Chief Constable John Blackman and Lieutenant Percy Simpson were the first Europeans to ride through present day Orange as they were heading towards Wellington. John Blackman gave his name to Blackman's Swamp (the present day Robertson Park in Orange), which is what Orange was called until the late 1820's. Major Mitchell decided to change the name to Orange after the Prince of Orange - who Mitchell fought with in the Peninsular War in Spain. Is this John Blackman related to James Blackman? Did Joseph hear about Blackman's Swamp through his employers and get the idea of buying land when it was being sold there in 1836?
Employer No 2	Convict servant to James Blackman (Junior) of Bathurst, listed as being in his employ on 16 May, 1825
Employer No 3	Convict servant of W McLeod of Kelso, near Bathurst in 1828
Occupation	Hut Keeper
Requested permission to marry	8 June, 1833
Permission granted/Date of Marriage	21 June, 1833 - Bathurst by Mr I. E. Keane
Wife	Caroline Clements - convict, aged 19 (note Joseph was 34 year old, a gap of 15 years). Appears that she may have been pregnant with their first child, Eliza Moulder.
Granted a Conditional Pardon	1 March, 1836 - 20 years after being convicted
Land purchases	22 December, 1836 - 633 acres, 159 pounds (pay one peppercorn annual rent)
	22 December, 1836 - 633 acres, 158.50 pounds (pay one peppercorn annual rent)
	16 May, 1839 - 738 acres, 184.10 pounds (pay one farthing annual quit rent)
	16 May, 1839 - 640 acres, 160 pounds (pay one farthing annual quit rent)
	Presumably there were more land purchases, given the number of properties below
Properties	"Bloomfield", Gosling Creek, ten miles east of Mt Canobolis and 3 miles south of where Orange is today. Built around 1837-1840. Most of the children were born at "Bloomfield"
	"Mudall" location unknown. Joseph (Jnr) Moulder ran this property until his death at age 23 (thought to be from Typhoid Fever). Apparently the family experienced a lot of hostility problems with the Aboriginals from the local Bogan tribe in this area, who used to attack and spear the stock and stockmen. The family retaliated with guns and buckshot. This property was sold sometime after Joseph Junior's death. Joseph had been engaged to the daughter of Andrew Kerr, who built the property "Wellwood" and passed it on to his son, Sir Andrew Kerr. It was at "Mundall" that the Aboriginal boy John (Jack) Moulder was adopted.
	"Endsleigh", built in 1858, in central Orange. House and surrounding grounds took up 4 acres. The NSW Railways purchased a strip of land for laying a railway line for 500 pounds, with a bridge built over the railway line for their convenience, and called Endsleigh Bridge.
	"Wollaroi", location unknown. Adora Moulder and James McLachlan, an Orange solicitor, lived and raised their family at Wollaroi.
	"Brotheroney" on the Lachlan River. Along with "Wardry" these properties consisted on 100,000 acres. These properties had 15 miles of river frontage on their north side. Today there is a stone monument about 26 miles down the road from the town of Condobolin which was once part of the property and represents where the explorer Oxley and his party struck and crossed the Lachlan River. Edward Henry Moulder and Johanna Mary Walker lived at Brotheroney. The property was very profitable until around 1897 when droughts and a number of bad years forced the property to be lost to the bank.
	"Wardry" on the Lachlan River. No further details known.
Died	8 March, 1866 - Orange, aged 67
Sundry: Friendship with Ben Hall	Joseph Moulder was friends with a fellow convict named John Walsh, who had a property at Wheogo. Ben Hall was working on John's property as a stockman and was engaged to be married to one of his daughters, Bridget. Ben and Bridget, both 18 years of age, were married on 29th February, 1856 at the Roman Catholic Church in Bathurst. Joseph Moulder (and presumably Caroline) attended the wedding. In his book "The Wild Colonial Boys", the author Frank Clune describes the wedding and mentions that Joseph was there and that he called out some jokes during the speeches. He also mentions that the next day, Joseph blew some cayenne pepper into the newly-weds bedroom to get them to come downstairs and shout everyone a drink. A few years later, after Bridget later left Ben Hall for another man, he began his life as a bushranger. Ben Hall maintained his friendship with Joseph and Caroline, and used to bid them hello when they passed him in gig on the way to and from Bathurst. He used to hide and camp out on their property. For more information of the life and death of Ben Hall, refer below

Date of Birth	1814 (actual date not known)
Date of Baptism	Manulla, County Mayo, Ireland? (shown as her birth place on her death certificate)
Parents	William Robert Ross BRENNAN and Dorothy CLEMMENS (as shown on her death certificate). Why are the surnames different? Did Caroline take on a different surname for some reason?
Arrested	Suspected theft of a hat worth 20 shillings Mr Samual Eness. Note that Caroline's father shows as being a hatter by trade on her death certificate. Did the whole family move from Ireland to Holborn, London? (shows as being of the Parish of St George, Holborn on her arrest papers) or was she there working for another person, who was a hatter? Did she steal from one of her father's clients, or from her master, being Samual Eness? Why steal a hat when you father makes them for a living?
Convicted	17 May, 1832, Old Bailey, Middlesex Gaol, London
Sentence	Transportation for 7 years, with bond (what does bond mean?)
Age when sentenced	17-18 years old
Religion	Catholic
Height	4 foot, 9 1/4 inches
Complexion	Ruddy and a little freckled
Hair	Brown
Eyes	Light Hazel
Occupation	Needlewomen, house maid, all work
Arrived Sydney	2 February 1833, aboard "Fanny 2" - 9 months after being convicted
Employer	Was it W McLeod of Bathurst? Caroline and Joseph requested permission to marry only 4 months after she arrived in the colony. Presumably she was sent to Bathurst straight after landing in Sydney and they met in Bathurst. Note that their first child Eliza Moulder was born some time in 1834 (died in 1839), so Caroline may well have been pregnant when they requested permission to be married.
Requested permission to marry	8 June, 1833
Permission granted/Date of Marriage	21 June, 1833 - Bathurst by Mr I. E. Keane
Husband	Joseph Moulder
Granted a Ticket of Leave	8 April, 1838 - 6 years after given a 7 year sentence, which stated that she must remain in the district of Bathurst
Children	12 children, born between 1834 and 1856. (further details of these children and their families can be looked up separately). They also adopted an Aboriginal child from the Bogan tribe whose mother had died and who would have otherwise been killed by a "Nulla-nulla" under Aboriginal law. They named him John Moulder and sent to Newington College to be educated. I wonder how many Aboriginal students were in the school around 1848 to 1853? Jack went on to spend his life working at the "Brotheroney" property, situated along the Lachlan River, and run by Joseph's son, Edward Henry Moulder and Johanna Mary Walker (from Braidwood, NSW).
Died	2 January, 1908 - "Endsleigh" Orange, NSW, aged 94
Hiding the convict past	The fact that Joseph and Caroline were convicts was hidden from their grandchildren, and most probably from their children as well. Certainly their grandson, Charles Randolph Hamilton Moulder, was told many make believe stories by Caroline. He was told that Joseph came as a free-settler from "Endsleigh Gardens", County of Blackpool, and she as a free-settler from County Mayo, Ireland, bringing with her many articles such as a walnut cabinet with an early type foot driven sewing machine, a huge cedar bed. Caroline also spoke of some of her relatives as being a Lady Clemmens and Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens). It appears that Mark Twain's ancestors moved to America in the early 1600's. If Caroline is related, it would be as something as distant as 6th or 7th cousin. Therefore highly unlikely that she would know the truth of any actual family link. The public shame of a convict history was something best kept secret in those days!

The Life of Ben Hall (9/5/1837 – 5/5/1865)

Ben Hall was one of the Bushrangers, like Ned Kelly, who brought a touch of glamour to Bushranging. He was a bushranger from 1862 until his death in 1865, when he was shot dead at the age of 28 at Billabong Creek, near Forbes, NSW.

Ben Hall was born on 9th May, 1837 to Benjamin Hall and Elizabeth Sommers, both ex-convicts. Many biographies claim he was born at Breeza, however this is incorrect. At the time of Ben's birth, his father, Ben Senior was an overseer on Samuel Clift's Doona (or Dono Range) Station, which was near Caroona on the Liberty Range. In the 1840’s his family moved west to the Lachlan Valley area. Hall worked as a stockman for John Walsh of Wheogo Station in the Weddin Mountains, near Forbes. Walsh had been transported to Australia for life in 1823. In 1856, Ben Hall married Bridget Walsh, one of John’s daughters, and settled down on 7000 hectares at Sandy Creek, near Wheogo. He was in partnership with another son-in-law of John, John McGuire. When John Walsh died in 1858, the two of them helped his widow Elizabeth, her daughter Kitty, and Kitty's husband, John Brown, to run Wheogo as well. (Kitty was later to run off with Frank Gardiner to Queensland). In the beginning Ben Hall was an honest, hard-working man and known well for his generosity to fellow neighbours.

A quote from Ben: “I'm not a criminal. I've been driven to this life. Pottinger arrested me on Forbes racecourse last year and I was held for a month in gaol, an innocent man. While I was away me wife ran away - with a policeman. Well, with a cove who used to be in the police force. Then I was arrested for the mail coach robbery and held another month before I was let out on bail. When I came home, I found my house burned down and cattle perished of thirst, left locked in yards. Pottinger has threatened and bullied everybody in this district just because he can't catch Gardiner. Next thing I knew is that the troopers fired at me 3 weeks ago for robbing Pinnacle police station, when I had nothing to do with that little joke. Trooper Hollister has skited that he'll shoot me on sight. Can you wonder I'm wild? By Gawd, Mr Norton, it's your mob have driven me to it and, I tell you straight, you'll never take me alive!"

In 1860, Hall was arrested on the orders of Police Inspector Sir Frederick Pottinger, for participating in an armed robbery at a race meeting. Although Hall was arrested, he was later acquitted of the robbery due to a lack of evidence. When he retuned home he found that Bridget had run away with an ex-policeman and his one year old son, Harry. Soon afterwards, Hall was again arrested for participating in a gold robbery. He wasn't committed for trial but when he returned to his home he found that all his stock were dead from thirst, and the police had burnt his house to the ground. Hall became very bitter. He joined up with Frank Gardiner’s gang, and after Gardiner headed north to Queensland with Kitty Walsh, he took to the roads with two of Gardiner's men, Johnny Gilbert and John O'Meally. Frank Gardiner was later arrested at Apis Creek, near Rockhampton. He was sentenced to thirty-two years but after eight years in prison he was released on condition that he left the colony. He became the proprietor of a saloon in San Francisco and is believed to have died there in 1895.

The rest of Frank Gardiner's gang quickly fell under the leadership of the 25 year old Hall. For 3 years Ben Hall and his gang completely outsmarted the police. He liked to cry "Bail Up" and charge onto a road firing his gun into the air, while his gang surrounded a coach and robbed it. From 1863 to 1865 Ben Hall's gang robbed 10 mail coaches, held up towns and stations 21 times and stole 23 racehorses. Hall’s gang committed many robberies and the fact that he never killed anyone was more a matter of good luck and poor shooting than anything else. He wounded several people and on at least one occasion deliberately tried to murder a policeman. Known members of the gang were Johnny Gilbert, Johnny O'Meally, Johnny Vane, Micky Bourke, Johnny Dunn, and Daniel Charters. Other mentioned as being part of the gang are Lowry, Bow, Manns and Fordyce.

Early one morning Hall and his bushrangers woke the owner of the Robinson Hotel in Canowindra and took over his building. They gathered all the town's people, about 40 of them, and kept them at the Hotel for 3 days. They treated their prisoner's well giving them food and drink, even providing music and other entertainment to create a party atmosphere. They did make the only policeman of the town march up and down along the verandah of the Hotel. Eventually Hall agreed that it was fair to let the prisoners go so that they could return home. He even gave some 'expenses money' to them.

The object of this 'Hold up' was not to frighten the town people but to show the power he had and his dislike for the police. This endeared him as the poor people's champion. This is one of the incidents that amused ordinary people and led to the admiration and romancing of the Ben Hall gang and bushrangers in general.

By April 1865 Ben Hall had grown tired of his life as a bushranger. He was saving money to eventually escape to America. However a reward of 2,000 pounds was offered on Hall's head, and Mick Connelly, one of his old friend’s, betrayed him.

On 29 April 1865, a police party led by Sub-Inspector James Davidson, with the aid of two black trackers (one of whom was an old friend of Ben’s, Billy Dargin) left Forbes. On the night of 4 May 1865 the police party found Ben hiding in the bush near Billabong Creek. A cold apprehensive night was spent in the bush and on the morning of 5 May 1865, Ben Hall died in a hail of bullets. The wounded bushranger's last words were "Shoot me dead Billy! Don't let the traps take me alive.

It was said that no less than 36 bullets were found in his body. His bullet-riddled body was tied to the back of a horse and led through the streets of Forbes. John McGuire, Hall's brother-in-law, was sitting outside a shop as the procession went past. Ben Hall was buried in Forbes Cemetery on Sunday 7 May 1865. His funeral was well attended for his reckless courage, courtesy to women, humour and hatred of informers had won him much public sympathy.

Ben Hall was the ideal type of bushranger -modest, game, a most skillful bushman, chivalrous to women, averse to killing (though some of his gang were readier to shoot), gaily defiant of the police, the wealthy, and all colonial authority. Popular admiration shows clearly in all the many ballads about him

The Ballad of Ben Hall

Come all Australian sons to me: a hero has been slain,
And cowardly butchered in his sleep upon the Lachlan plain.
Oh, do not stay your seemly grief but let a teardrop fall,
Oh, so many hearts will always mourn the fate of bold Ben Hall.

No brand of Cain ever stamped his brow, no widow's curse did fall.
When times were bad the squatters dread the name of Ben Hall.
He never robbed a needy chap, his records best will show,
He was staunch and loyal to his friends and manly to the foe.

Oh, and savagely they murdered him, those cowardly blue-coat imps,
Who were set on to where he slept by informing peeler's pimps.
Every since the good old days of Turpin and Duval,
The people's friends were outlaws too and so was bold Ben Hall