- Harry Power
Harry Power (1819-1891) was an
Australian Bushranger . It is believed, by some, thatNed Kelly served as his accomplice while a teenager.Early life
He was born Henry Johnson in
Waterford ,Ireland on 18 May 1820 and grew up inAshton under Lyne ,Lancashire ,England , where he worked in the cotton mills. On the 31 August 1840 at theSalford Assizes he was sentenced to transportation for 7 years in Australia for stealing a pair of shoes. He left England on 15 January 1842 and arrived atHobart aboard the "Isabella" on 21st May 1842.He was freed in 1848 and moved to
Sydney . By now he was calling himself Harry Power. In 1855 he was arrested for injuring a police officer. It seems that the officer suspected that Power's horse had been stolen and demanded proof of ownership. Since he did not have any proof, Power wounded the officer and escaped. He was caught and sentenced to 14 years. He was released after serving six years, but was again jailed in 1864 for horse stealing.Escaping from
Pentridge Prison in 1869, the 50-year-old Power turned to highway robbery and became known as the "Gentleman Bushranger". He was highly successful and a reward of £500 was offered for his capture (a large sum of money at that time). There were claims that during these robberies Power had a youthful assistant who took care of the horses. Suspicion fell on the then 16-year-oldNed Kelly . Power himself was captured on the5 July 1870 . There is some suggestion that Kelly's relatives may have betrayed him to the police. He was arrested while on their land.Later life
Power was not released from prison until February 1885, aged 66. For a while he worked as a tour guide for the old Prison Hulk "Success", on which he had once served a sentence, and was by then a museum. In 1891 Harry Power fell in and drowned in the Murray River at
Swan Hill, Victoria .External links
[http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/ergo/harry_power Photos of Harry Power] from the
State Library of Victoria
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
