Rob the Ranter in 1861 Newcastle, NSW
Rob the Ranter first crossed my path 30 years ago. That was when my attention was drawn by the then archivist at the University of Newcastle, Denis Rowe, to the existence of an interesting three-part serial article that had been published in The Newcastle Chronicle in 1862. The article was titled Reminiscences of a Three-month sojourn in Newcastle, and was written by an anonymous figure who used the pen-name “Rob the Ranter”. Impressed by the content of the piece, I persuaded the editor ofThe Newcastle Herald to re-publish an edited version – again in three parts…