Frank Gardiner - Capture and Exile

Capture and Exile

In 1863-4 Gardiner was living with Kitty Brown at Apis Creek near Rockhampton, Queensland, where he was running a general store. He was recognised and reported to the police in Sydney. Gardiner was apprehended in controversial circumstances by NSW police operating outside their jurisdiction. One of the NSW policemen used Gardiner's own horse 'Darkie' during the capture. He was taken back to Sydney, and sentenced to 32 years hard labour.

Gardiner served only 10 years of his sentence after successful appeals by his two sisters. He was granted an early release, conditional on his leaving the country. In late 1874 Gardiner arrived in California having travelled via Hong Kong. He is just one of many Australians exiled from this country during the bushranging era.

Gardiner owned the Twilight Star Saloon on Kearny Street in the Barbary Coast area of San Francisco. There are many rumours about his life there, including a claim that he married a rich American widow and had two sons. None have been proven. The circumstances of his death are not known with any degree of certainty, due in large part by the destruction caused during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. There are various reports of his death ranging from the early 1880s to 1904 as the Sydney Morning Herald reported that year. Again, there is no hard evidence to support any particular date.