Bushranger researcher Gary Hunn has been presented with a pressed metal Ned Kelly nameplate by Little Darwin as a fitting reward for alerting us to the following ripping yarn . Gary happened to mention the strange "sporting events " performed in colonial days and in doing so raised the performance of a person known as The Flying Pieman . Dazzlingly attired , he walked great distances, raced coaches between towns , even carried a goat , other weighty and cumbersome objects that made the task more difficult.
Gary came across the amazing character during his extensive research into bushrangers when following up work on the subject by an equally interesting person , Stephan Williams , a public servant who once resided in Canberra and also lived like a hermit in a Sydney cave .
Gary came across the amazing character during his extensive research into bushrangers when following up work on the subject by an equally interesting person , Stephan Williams , a public servant who once resided in Canberra and also lived like a hermit in a Sydney cave .
Williams jotted down every mention of a bushranger he could find in newspapers and archives and produced a number of books on the subject, including The Dictionary of Australian Bushrangers. In chasing up these publications, Gary Hunn , who led a film crew into bushranger country in three states and recently collaborated in a proposed musical on Captain Moonlight, snapped up a rare limited edition , 34pp , illustrated monograph by Williams about The Flying Pieman , the cover design below.
While not dealing with bushrangers , it is a fascinating glimpse into the zany and wild colonial days . The said Pieman was William Francis King , born London , March 1807, eldest son of Francis King , paymaster of Accounts in Treasury at Whitehall . It was intended that William would enter the Church of England , but his love of field sports and boisterous recreations was " not befitting the sacred office."
After a spell with a London stockbroker he became a clerk in the Treasury Office in the Tower of London . Restless, he headed for New South Wales in 1839, expecting to be given a choice government job because of his references .
This was not to be . Disappointed , an archbishop arranged for him to become a schoolmaster and clerk at Sutton Forest, near Bong Bong . After a spell as a tutor to a family , he got the urge to move on . What transpired next is truly sensational .
The l869 Australian Dictionary of Dates and Men of the Time, containing the history of Australasia from 1542 to May 1879, compiled by J. Henniker Heaton, included The Flying Pieman and said that when King gave up tutoring he intended returning to England .... Many unforeseen difficulties, however presented themselves , and he was induced to hire as a barman in a Sydney pub called Hope and Anchor , afterwards the Rainbow Tavern .
The aforementioned unforeseen difficulties , Williams explained in his monograph , involved falling in love with a convict girl and arranging to take her back to England .
The story goes that because he was not a man of means and could not get government approval to take up with a convict , a desperate plan of elopement was drawn up in which the girl was placed in a wooden box and placed aboard ship .
Due to a tragic error , the ship in which the box was loaded left without King getting aboard . He supposedly arrived at Circular Quay to see it departing , seized a horse from a passer by and frantically rode along the harbour trying to attract the attention of the crew , without success .
There was speculation that the girl had probably died from starvation, thirst or asphyxiation. Whether the story was true or not, Williams said King soon became an eccentric figure who sold meat pies and rolls around the old cricket ground in Hyde Park and along Circular Quay .
The pies were carried in a two-lidded iron box atop a small charcoal stove , with a chimney, legs and a handle , so that it could be carried and also stood on the ground .
Then he commenced a series of " pedestrian feats ", such as : walking 1634 miles in five weeks and four days ; from the obelisk in Macquarie Place, Sydney , to the l6 mile stone at Parramatta and back again in six hours ; walking from Sydney to Parramatta and back twice a day for six consecutive days ; on one occasion he carried a dog weighing more than 70 pounds from Campbelltown to Sydney between the hours of half past 12 at night and 20 minutes to nine the next morning ; for a wager, a goat weighing 92lb with 12 pounds of extra deadweight was lumbered on a trek .
His " costume", made him stand out . It consisted of white stockings and stout shoes , surmounted by tight (usually red or crimson ) knee-breeches , open white shirt , blue jacket and a top hat from which multi-coloured streamers trailed . He also carried a staff from which more streamers were attached.
These and many other feats resulted in him earning the cognomen of "The Flying Pieman ." His marathons included Queensland where he referred to himself in the Courier as The Ladies' Walking, Flying Pieman . The frequent inclusion of "Ladies" in his formal title , Williams explained, betrayed a weakness on the Pieman's part for the beguiling breed , his behaviour to them always impeccable , if perhaps eccentric .
The Sydney Morning Herald coverage of his Brisbane performances , on October 17,l848 , in part , said ...He first intends to walk into the favour of the ladies at Kangaroo Point , then cross the river to South Brisbane , and there repeat his previous feats of walking, running, hopping, &c. In fact, if he is not the pride of the ladies , I am sure he is the wonderment of the juveniles , every one of whom fondly anticipates a holiday from school tomorrow to be a witness of this untiring activity ."
In Brisbane he planned to attack a major marathon record if the locals subscribed to a new pair of boots as his current ones were almost worn out .
With his "natural bent " to undertake all kinds of feats , upon which people often bet, it was said he was made the dupe of many . He died at the Liverpool Asylum in Sydney on August 12, 1874.
NOTE : This blog has run several stories about Gary Hunn , a Magnetic Island resident, in connection with his bushranger research , some of which took place between attending Melbourne exhibitions of Monet , Napoleon and La Perouse. A man of diverse interests, he is also into American history .
As a special gift , he gave Little Darwin a piece of a broken bottle which could have come from the dump at the very wayside pub/store the notorious bushranger Frank Gardiner set up with his mistress, near Rockhampton, Queensland , under an alias . Gardiner had led a gang which in l862 staged Australia's largest gold robbery at Eugowra ,escaping with 14,000 pounds ($4million today ) . He was arrested in 1864 by NSW police who traced him to the Queensland shanty and illegally took him back to Sydney. Sentenced to 32 years hard labour, he was released after serving 10 and exiled from Australia.
Shipped out to Hong Kong, in 1875 he turned up in San Francisco running the Twilight Saloon and mixed with Wild West identity, lawman, professional gambler and journalist " Bat" Masterson . One aspect of the saga is the fascinating suggestion, closely investigated by Gary , that twin sons of a widow Gardiner married in America came to Australia and dug up his share of the gold robbery .
The aforementioned unforeseen difficulties , Williams explained in his monograph , involved falling in love with a convict girl and arranging to take her back to England .
The story goes that because he was not a man of means and could not get government approval to take up with a convict , a desperate plan of elopement was drawn up in which the girl was placed in a wooden box and placed aboard ship .
Due to a tragic error , the ship in which the box was loaded left without King getting aboard . He supposedly arrived at Circular Quay to see it departing , seized a horse from a passer by and frantically rode along the harbour trying to attract the attention of the crew , without success .
There was speculation that the girl had probably died from starvation, thirst or asphyxiation. Whether the story was true or not, Williams said King soon became an eccentric figure who sold meat pies and rolls around the old cricket ground in Hyde Park and along Circular Quay .
The pies were carried in a two-lidded iron box atop a small charcoal stove , with a chimney, legs and a handle , so that it could be carried and also stood on the ground .
Then he commenced a series of " pedestrian feats ", such as : walking 1634 miles in five weeks and four days ; from the obelisk in Macquarie Place, Sydney , to the l6 mile stone at Parramatta and back again in six hours ; walking from Sydney to Parramatta and back twice a day for six consecutive days ; on one occasion he carried a dog weighing more than 70 pounds from Campbelltown to Sydney between the hours of half past 12 at night and 20 minutes to nine the next morning ; for a wager, a goat weighing 92lb with 12 pounds of extra deadweight was lumbered on a trek .
His " costume", made him stand out . It consisted of white stockings and stout shoes , surmounted by tight (usually red or crimson ) knee-breeches , open white shirt , blue jacket and a top hat from which multi-coloured streamers trailed . He also carried a staff from which more streamers were attached.
These and many other feats resulted in him earning the cognomen of "The Flying Pieman ." His marathons included Queensland where he referred to himself in the Courier as The Ladies' Walking, Flying Pieman . The frequent inclusion of "Ladies" in his formal title , Williams explained, betrayed a weakness on the Pieman's part for the beguiling breed , his behaviour to them always impeccable , if perhaps eccentric .
The Sydney Morning Herald coverage of his Brisbane performances , on October 17,l848 , in part , said ...He first intends to walk into the favour of the ladies at Kangaroo Point , then cross the river to South Brisbane , and there repeat his previous feats of walking, running, hopping, &c. In fact, if he is not the pride of the ladies , I am sure he is the wonderment of the juveniles , every one of whom fondly anticipates a holiday from school tomorrow to be a witness of this untiring activity ."
In Brisbane he planned to attack a major marathon record if the locals subscribed to a new pair of boots as his current ones were almost worn out .
With his "natural bent " to undertake all kinds of feats , upon which people often bet, it was said he was made the dupe of many . He died at the Liverpool Asylum in Sydney on August 12, 1874.
NOTE : This blog has run several stories about Gary Hunn , a Magnetic Island resident, in connection with his bushranger research , some of which took place between attending Melbourne exhibitions of Monet , Napoleon and La Perouse. A man of diverse interests, he is also into American history .
As a special gift , he gave Little Darwin a piece of a broken bottle which could have come from the dump at the very wayside pub/store the notorious bushranger Frank Gardiner set up with his mistress, near Rockhampton, Queensland , under an alias . Gardiner had led a gang which in l862 staged Australia's largest gold robbery at Eugowra ,escaping with 14,000 pounds ($4million today ) . He was arrested in 1864 by NSW police who traced him to the Queensland shanty and illegally took him back to Sydney. Sentenced to 32 years hard labour, he was released after serving 10 and exiled from Australia.
Shipped out to Hong Kong, in 1875 he turned up in San Francisco running the Twilight Saloon and mixed with Wild West identity, lawman, professional gambler and journalist " Bat" Masterson . One aspect of the saga is the fascinating suggestion, closely investigated by Gary , that twin sons of a widow Gardiner married in America came to Australia and dug up his share of the gold robbery .
