The gunfight at Cooksvale Creek

When Fred Lowry died he reportedly said “Tell ‘em I died game,” which might not be as apocryphal as Ned Kelly’s supposed last utterance “Such is life”, but what is a fact is that Lowry never mentioned the hiding place of the thousands of pounds taken from the Mudgee mail robbery on 13th July, 1863, the theft of which made his name as a bushranger. Thomas Frederick Lowry was born in Homebush (then Liberty Plains), Sydney, in 1836 and grew up in the Young district of NSW. He and his mate, John Foley, stole horses and served time at Bathurst gaol. In company with Ben Hall and other members of the gang, he had robbed Barnes’s store at Cootamundra, then moved on to robbing mail coaches. He held up the Goulburn mail coach at a place called Big Hill, assaulting a man called Richard Morphy during the exploit. However it was the Mudgee mail which really made his name, the incident taking place 16 miles from Bowenfields. Inside the coach were a Mrs Smith of Ben Bullen who had about £200 on her person and Henry Kater, an official of the Mudgee branch of the Australian Joint Stock Bank. He had stowed a bag containing £5,700 of old bank notes (withdrawn from circulation and on their way to Sydney to be destroyed) in the boot of the coach.

When Lowry bailed up the coach he took Kater’s revolver and then ordered the driver to take the coach off the highway where Lowry and his accomplice, John Foley, rifled the interior for registered mail bags. As they did this they discovered the carpet bag containing the notes. “I’ve got it!” Lowry exclaimed when he saw the bank notes, giving rise to the belief that the bushrangers had somehow been tipped off by an informer. Mrs Smith, meanwhile, was terrified for her £200 which she had hidden in her skirts and she began to scream. Lowry calmed her down by explaining that they never robbed women. By August the police had received information concerning the lost banknotes which were traced to Thomas Vardy’s Limerick Races Hotel at Cooksvale Creek, north of Crookwell. The serial numbers of pound notes matched those taken in the robbery. They also had reason to believe that Fred Lowry was staying there. At dawn on 29th August, SeniorSergeant Stephenson of Goulburn led a party of police to the Limerick Races Hotel.

In the group were Detective William Camphin, destined in years to come to make a name for himself as a brilliant detective in Sydney, also Detective John Sanderson and Constable Herbst. Herbst was sent round the back of the pub to make sure nobody escaped that way, while Stephenson ordered Camphin to guard the front. Sanderson and Stephenson then went inside to search the premises. The landlord, Thomas Vardy, admitted that there were strangers in the house, pointing to a room adjoining the parlour. Stephenson knocked on the door, and, receiving no reply, cautioned whoever was in there that if they didn’t open the door he would break it down. Still he received no reply after which he tried unsuccessfully to break open the door. However, as he stepped back with a view to making another attempt on it, a shot rang out from inside the room which hit the Sergeant’s horse outside. A voice also called out, challenging the police to fight.

Shortly afterwards the door opened and Lowry appeared, firing again. He yelled out “I’m Lowry, come on ye bastards, and I’ll fight ye fair.” Both Stephenson and Lowry then fired again at each other from a distance of about five yards. Lowry’s shot missed the Sergeant’s head by a few inches, hitting the doorknob. Lowry’s next shot hit Stephenson’s hand, but the Sergeant was still able to fire his revolver and this time, from a distance of less than a yard, the ball hit the bushranger in the throat. Hand to hand fighting followed with Stephenson grabbing his assailant by the neck and hitting him on the head with his gun. The struggle continued inside the bar until Lowry was overcome by the other policemen. He was quickly handcuffed, despite being exhausted and seriously wounded. Vardy and several others were arrested for knowingly harbouring bushrangers but they were later released.

Fred Lowry was not a bushranger celebrated for his looks or wit and, accordingly, this posthumous image did not seek to immortalize him. But he did die game

A further search of the hotel revealed another bushranger, Larry Cummins, hiding in a Below: Fred Lowry was not a bushranger celebrated for his looks or wit and, accordingly, this posthumous image did not seek to immortalize him. But he did die game The gunfight at Cooksvale Creek Australian Gold Gem & Treasure 53 room. The party of police from Goulburn along with their prisoners who had been loaded onto a dray, set off in the direction of Goulburn. However, Lowry’s throat wound was causing him such pain that he was choking and appeared to be suffocating. The party stopped at Pratton’s public house at Woodhouselee and a doctor was sent for at 6.30pm. A messenger was also dispatched to Goulburn asking for reinforcements. Around 2.30am the next morning more police arrived from Goulburn and half an hour later Dr Waugh arrived and attended to Lowry, who did not have long to live. Detective Camphin then read the Catholic Litany for departing souls with Lowry sometimes repeating the responses. Lowry died around 6am. He was 27.

The body was taken to Goulburn hospital where it was examined by various people and photographed. It was identified by Mr Kater, also William and Mary Fogg, friends of Frank Gardiner the bushranger. John Foley, Lowry’s accomplice, was later captured at Mackay’s Hotel at Campbell River and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour at Bathurst, the first three years in irons. He had been foolish enough to be caught with a wad of bank notes from the Mudgee Mail Robbery. Sergeant Stephenson’s horse, luckier than Lowry, survived the shot fired by the bushranger during the shootout. The bullet was located two years later and successfully removed by a vet. Detective William Camphin went on to become a brilliant intelligence agent and a terror to Sydney criminals. Sergeant Stephenson was commended for his “active, judicious and courageous conduct on the occasion” and awarded a silver tray by the people of Goulburn for his efforts that day. He was also promoted to Sub-Inspector. Today one can visit the site of the Limerick Races Hotel which is to be found just above Cooksvale Creek. The dinted doorknob, hit by Sergeant Stephenson’s first shot, became a Vardy (now Fardy) family heirloom while Pratton’s Pub at Woodhouselee was turned into a private residence. The owners reported that a queer sound like falling rain could often be heard from the room once occupied by the bushranger Lowry.

Note: Six months after Fred Lowry died, his younger brother, James, a cattle duffer, was shot by Constable Ward and died near Coonabarabran on 19th February, 1864. The bushranger John Foley served 10 years of his 15-year sentence, including the three years in leg irons. He reformed and returned to the Oberon district where he was from and became a respectable landowner at Black Springs, NSW, on the Campbells River. He died on 26th February 1891, aged 55. Lowry’s other accomplice, Larry Cummins was also gaoled for 15 years but escaped from Berrima gaol and returned to bushranging including an attempted robbery at Mutton Falls. He was arrested at Porters Retreat in 1867 and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment in Parramatta gaol. He was released by Sir Hercules Robinson, then Governor of New South Wales, and granted a free pardon in 1874. Frank Gardiner and several other bushrangers were similarly reprieved. Cummins eventually gave up his wild career and went to Gippsland, where he became James Long, which name he held till his death. He was often seen about Albury, and attended sheep, cattle and horse sales. He made whips and did jobs of droving for a living. He died at Wodonga in October 1909, aged 65.