" PEACE, PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY." 223 



Another factor, though of a totally different character, which 

 enabled the public mind to contemplate Sir Bryan O'Loghlen's 

 pledges of peace was the final extinction of the bushranging industry 

 in Victoria. The bloodthirsty ruffians who gave such a terror to 

 that word in the early days of the goldfields had been practically 

 stamped out. The spread of population, the greater efficiency of the 

 police, and the incarceration or dying out of the remnants of that 

 terrible influx from Van Diemen's Land had rescued the traveller 

 from one great terror of the roads, and driven such of the marauders 

 as escaped justice to the wilder regions of New South Wales and 

 Queensland. But in the north-eastern district of Victoria, extending 

 from the Goulburn Eiver to the Murray, and backed by the weird 

 Buffalo Kanges, lay a wildly picturesque, but largely inhospitable 

 country. In this sparsely occupied region there had been bred up 

 a second generation of young criminals, special adepts in horse and 

 cattle stealing. For the most part they were the progeny of families 

 where some of the parents had worn the broad-arrow on their 

 clothing. A natural attraction brought together in these fastnesses 

 groups of individuals who were often being wanted for some infrac- 

 tion of the law. They intermarried and produced children who 

 inherited a remarkable magnetic power over other people's live 

 stouk, and a genius for altering or obliterating brands that won the 

 admiration even of the local police. The unexplored ranges and 

 mysterious gullies around them were eminently favourable to a 

 business of this character. Live stock could be " planted " to use 

 the vernacular of the craft for many months without chance of 

 discovery, and when a sufficient mob was collected, it could be driven 

 by devious passes, known only to the initiated, across the upper 

 Murray and disposed of without question in New South Wales. 

 Emboldened by the facility with which they raided the squatters' 

 herds, they adopted concerted plans for taking tribute on all stock 

 passing through the district, which at length acquired so bad a 

 reputation that it was a difficulty to find drovers willing to take 

 the responsibility of delivery. When possible to avoid the ill- 

 famed tracks about the Wombat, Greta and Strathbogie Eanges by 

 a detour of many weary miles, the extra distance was promptly 

 accepted. 



