A dastardly bandit responsible for incredibly heinous crimes, or a runaway in search of his freedom? Meg Foster unravels the myth of “Black Douglas”, whose life of crime across 19th-century Australia made him a target of lynch mobs and the popular press. Speaking to Emily Briffett, she explains how Douglas was branded a shadowy bogeyman, and delves into his experiences as a hard-drinking prize-fighter and phrenologist.
(Ad) Meg Foster is the author of Boundary Crossers: The hidden history of Australia’s other bushrangers (NewSouth, 2022). Buy it now from Amazon:
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