Frank McCallum
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Francis McNeiss McNeil McCallum (Captain Melville) (c 1823- 10 August 1857) was a Scottish-born Australian notorious
bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...
during the early part of the
Victorian Gold Rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony, and an influx of population growth and financial capita ...
in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.


Transportation

After being convicted under the alias Francis Melville, McCallum was
transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she w ...
to
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
(then known as Van Diemen's Land) by the Minerva, in 1838 (aged 15), having been convicted at Perth on 3 October 1836, of house breaking, and sentenced to seven years' transportation. The convict records show that whilst Melville was under sentence he was exceedingly insubordinate, so much so that his sentence was extended to life. He continued to regularly appear before the magistrate up until late 1850. Some how he managed to escape and arrived in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
about October 1851.


Bushranging

During 1852 as Captain Melville he was alleged to have led a large band of bushrangers on the roads in the Black Forest between Melbourne and
Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...
, and gained a folkloric reputation through the boldness of his outrages and the chivalry he showed to many, especially women. His name was associated with the
Nelson robbery The Nelson robbery was one of the major crimes of the Victorian gold rush. It involved the robbery at gunpoint of 8,183 ounces of gold valued at about £30,000 by a party of thieves from the barque ''Nelson'' as she lay at anchor in Hobsons Bay o ...
and
St Kilda Road robberies It is widely believed that in the tumultuous years following the Victorian gold rush that a number of robberies by armed bandits, known in Australia as bushrangers, took place on St Kilda Road, then a track through the scrub from the city to the ...
, probably without foundation as in reality he seems to have spent most of his time bailing up diggers around Mount Macedon, either on his own or with one or two mates. On Christmas Eve 1852, when under the alias of Thomas Smith, he and fellow bushranger William Robert Roberts were arrested at a brothel in Corio Street,
Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
, and eventually faced Judge
Redmond Barry Sir Redmond Barry, (7 June 181323 November 1880), was a colonial judge in Victoria, Australia of Anglo-Irish origins. Barry was the inaugural Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, serving from 1853 until his death in 1880. He is arguably ...
at the Geelong Circuit Court on 3 February 1853 on three counts of robbery. Barry sentenced both men to twelve, ten and ten years on each count, respectively – in Melville's case to be served consecutively. Although employed in chains on the roads of Victoria by the time of the Melbourne Private Escort Robbery of 20 July 1853, Captain Melville's name has become associated with it over the years because of the coincidence of one of the Escort robbers, George Melville, using the same surname as his alias. On 22 October 1856 he was one of a party of prisoners based on the prison hulk ''Success'' in
Port Phillip Bay Port Phillip (Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is completel ...
who attempted to seize and escape in a boat, during which a warden (Owen Owens) and a fellow convict (Stephens) died. Stephens had jumped overboard and drowned. Sentenced to death but overturned because all prisoners involved all claimed that Stephens stuck the killer blow thus creating doubt. Melville was then sent to
Old Melbourne Gaol The Old Melbourne Gaol is a former jail and current museum on Russell Street, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildin ...
. In late July 1857 he attacked Mr Wintle, the governor of the gaol with a sharped spoon causing a deep cut behind Mr Wintle's ear.


Suicide

Melville had been found dead in his bed on 10 August 1857 with a large handkerchief tied around his neck. It would have been a slow death. There was a handkerchief about two yards in length twisted very tightly around his neck, the first turn being made as a slip knot. It was afterwards turned round very tightly, and the end tucked in under the folds. The cause of death was suffocation caused by the handkerchief round the neck. There is very little doubt that the handkerchief was applied by the deceased himself.


References


See also

*
Frank Clune Francis Patrick Clune, OBE, (27 November 189311 March 1971) was a best-selling Australian writer, travel writer and popular historian. Early life and career Clune was born in Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney in 1893, and grew up in Redf ...
, author of ''Captain Melville'' (1945) {{DEFAULTSORT:McCallum, Frank Bushrangers 1857 deaths Prisoners who died in Victoria (Australia) detention Suicides in Victoria (Australia) Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia 1823 births