one who ranges or traverses thebush, far and wide; an Australian highwayman; in the early daysusually an escaped convict. Shakspeare uses the verb `torange' in this connection.
«Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen
In murders and in outrage, boldly here.»
(`Richard II.,' III. ii. 39.)
«Ranger» is used in modern English for one who protectsand not for one who robs; as `the Ranger' of a Park.
1806. May 4, `Sydney Gazette' or `New South Wales Advertiser,given in `History of New South Wales,' p. 265:
«Yesterday afternoon, William Page, the bushranger repeatedlyadvertised, was apprehended by three constables.»
1820. W. C. Wentworth, `Description of New South Wales,'p. 166:
[The settlements in Van Diemen's Land have] «been infested formany years past by a banditti of runaway convicts, who haveendangered the person and property of every one. . . . Thesewretches, who are known in the colony by the name ofbushrangers. . .»
1820. Lieut. Chas. Jeffreys, `Van Dieman's [sic] Land,' p. 15:
«The supposition . . . rests solely on the authority of the BushRangers, a species of wandering brigands, who will be elsewheredescribed.»
1838. T. L. `Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' vol. i. p. 9:
«Bushrangers, a sub-genus in the order banditti, which happilycan now only exist there in places inaccessible to the mountedpolice.»
1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 81:
«This country [Van Diemen's Land] is as much infested as NewSouth Wales with robbers, runaway convicts, or, as they aretermed, Bush-rangers.»
1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 77:
«The whole region was infested by marauding bands ofbush-rangers, terrible after nightfall.»
1887. J. F. Hogan, `The Irish in Australia, p. 252:
«Whilst he was engaged in this duty in Victoria, a bandof outlaws – – 'bushrangers' as they are colonially termed – – who had long defied capture, and had carried on a careerof murder and robbery, descended from their haunts inthe mountain ranges.»