Found tucked away in the Bushranger section at Darwin's fabulous Genealogical Society office was Captain Starlight, Reckless Rascall of Robbery Under Arms .The slim-28 page- work by author, Frank Clune , was a presentation copy to the late Darwin researcher and extensive collector , surveyor Vern O'Brien . It was designed and printed by John Gartner , published at Melbourne's Hawthorn Press in 1945 ; decorations were by Allan Jordan .
Pasted into the back of the book , probably by Vern, is a cutting from an old Northern Territory newspaper which includes brief details of Readford's drowning while trying to cross a flooded creek in the Northern Territory in March 1901
Readford was never himself known by the name of Captain Starlight, the pseudonym of bushranger Frank Pearson . Pearson had adopted the name Captain Starlight in 1868, 21 years prior to the publication of the novel in 1889.
Boldrewood , however , claimed that the Captain Starlight character in his novel was a composite of several bushrangers of the era , including Readford . Another was Thomas Law , known as Captain Midnight .
It is said the early chapters of Robbery Under Arms recalled Readford's exploits, while the denouement followed the shoot-out and death of Captain Midnight.
Born in NSW in March 1841, Readford made his way to Queensland and was working as a stockman on Bowen Downs Station, near Longreach ,in l870.
In an audacious act , he rounded up 1000 head of the station's cattle , put them in hastily built stockyards , then drove them 1287 kilometres through tough country, which had claimed the lives of explorers Burke and Wills , into to South Australia , where they were sold for 5000 pound ,a vast amount of money in those days.
In 1881 he served 18 months in prison in Brisbane for stealing horses .
In 1883, he drove 3000 head of cattle for a company to Brunette Downs, near Corella Creek , in the Barkly Tablelands , of the Northern Territory .There he became the station manager for a time .
His skill as a cattleman was such that he was also made manager of another Territory station, McArthur River.
In 1901 , having set out to explore Central Australia , this experienced , daring bushman , who had become something of a national hero, was drowned trying to swim his horse across Corella Creek .
His death was described as one of the great ironies of the outback , he having saved others.
An annual Harry Redford Cattle Drive commemorates Readford's audacious exploits as a drover.
Clune and O'Brien were obviously closely associated ,the following photo shows them ,Clune left , at the grave of surveyor and explorer David Lindsay, who died in Darwin on December 17, l922 from a heart attack .
