''Three Years with Thunderbolt'' is a 1905

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

by William Monckton concerning his time with the Australian

bushranger Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in The bush#Australia, the Australian bush between the 1780s and the early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia ...

Captain Thunderbolt Frederick Wordsworth Ward (c. 1835 – 25 May 1870), better known by the Style (manner of address)#Self-styled, self-styled pseudonym of Captain Thunderbolt, was an Australian bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island, New South Wal ...

. The book was edited by

Ambrose Pratt Ambrose Goddard Hesketh Pratt (31 August 1874 – 13 April 1944) was an Australian writer born into a cultivated family in Forbes, New South Wales.''Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'' (2nd ed.) Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1994 ...

. Its full title was ''Three Years With Thunderbolt: Being the narrative of William Monckton, who for three years attended the famous outlaw, Frederick Ward, better known as Captain Thunderbolt, as servant, companion, and intimate friend: during which period he shared the bushranger's crimes and perils, and was twice severely wounded in encounters with the police.'' The book was serialised in newspapers before being published in book form.

Stage adaptation

The book was adapted in a 1905 melodrama ''

Thunderbolt A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hel ...

''. The play was produced by William Anderson and the cast of the original production included

Bert Bailey Albert Edward Bailey (11 June 1868 – 30 March 1953), better known as Bert Bailey, was a New Zealand-born Australian playwright, theatrical manager and stage and screen actor best known for playing Dad Rudd, in both mediums, the character from ...

. The play was very popular.

Film adaptation

The stage version was adapted into the 1910 film ''

''.

References

External links

Three Years with Thunderbolt
at AustLit

at Project Gutenberg
Complete book
at National Library Australia {{Captain Thunderbolt 1905 books Australian memoirs Memoirs adapted into films Biographies about bushrangers Captain Thunderbolt 1900s Australian plays