LOCKDOWN SONG - Tommy Hutton
Streets of Forbes Traditional
Come all of you Lachlan men and a sorrowful tale I'll tell,
Concerning of a hero who through misfortune fell,
His name it was Ben Hall, a man of high renown,
He was hunted from his station, he was like a dog shot down.
For years he roamed the roads and he gave the traps some fun,
A thousand pounds placed on his head with Gilbert and Jackie Dunn,
Ben parted from his comrades, the outlaws did agree,
To give away bushranging, they would cross the briny sea.
Ben went to Goobang creek, where upon the 5th of May,
The troopers filled him full of lead, as in his sleep he lay,
They wrapped him in a blanket, and they rolled him like a swag,
They lead him through the streets of Forbes, to show what a price they had
Plaque dated 5 May 1957
"This marks the place where Ben Hall was shot by police and black trackers on the morning of 5th May, 1865."
In Memory of Ben Hall
Ben Hall's grave, Forbes Cemetery
Streets of Forbes
One of my favourite songs is a song called the Streets of Forbes.
Martyn Wyndham-Reid sings this song and many other Australian Bush songs, and I like listening to them. They are songs with stories about the bushrangers such as Ben Hall and Ned Kelly.
I won the LP in a face to face singing competition at the Gosforth Folk club. The club was in the Gosforth Hotel, Salters road and run by Jim Mageean. Great club!
Ben Hall was born in 1837, and shot by Police and Black trackers on the morning of 5th May, 1865. He was 27 years old.
Ben Hall's mother was Irish and his father English. They were convicted of stealing and transported as convicts. So Ben was born in Australia. The police force took a dislike to him. I think they thought he was English because they believed they could do anything they wanted to do.
He was shot by a posse of eight police at Goobang Creek. One of the police was an Aborigine called Billy Jurgen, and the others persuaded him to shoot so they themselves would not get the blame. That’s what I've heard said.
Ben Hall is famous and a hero in Australia. The gravestone marking his burial place in Forbes cemetery was erected in the 1920's. The Forbes Historical Society erected a plaque in 1957 marking where he was shot.
Tommy Hutton
Ben Hall
Portrait of bushranger Ben Hall
by Freeman Brothers Studio, 11863,
from original album print arte de visite,
State Library of New South Wales P1 / 693