Australian Royalty: Genealogy of the colony of NSW

Name: Henry Redfern
Birth Date: 1841
Birth Place: New South Wales
Registration Year: 1841
Registration Place: Castlereagh, New South Wales, Australia
Father: Thomas Redfern
Mother: Jemima
Volume Number: V18411127 26A

Readford was a well known cattle thief or duffer and it is widely believed that the Captain Starlight character in Rolf Boldrewood's novel Robbert Under Arms, was based on Readford as Readford's 1870 cattle drive was a major story arc in the book.
Readford was born in Mudgee but moved to Queensland. In 1870 he was working as a stockman on Bowen Downs Station near Longreach. Realising that remote parts of the property, which stretched some 228 km along the Thomson River, were seldom visited by station workers, he devised a plan to steal some of the station's cattle. With two associates George Dewdney and William Rooke, he built stockyards in an outlying part of the property, and gradually assembled a mob of about 1000 cattle which he then took from the property, all without any of the station workers realising what was going on.
He knew the cattle would be recognised by their brands and being stolen if he tried to sell them in Queensland so he headed for South Australia though the Channel Country and the Strzelecki Desert. Only ten years earlier, explorers Burke and Wills had set out to cross the continent along the same track, and died in the attempt. As a droving exercise, it was a remarkable achievement as anyone who has travelled the present day Strzelecki Track will know. Three months and 1287 km later he exchanged two cows and a white bull for rations at Artracoona Native Well, near Wallelderdine Station. They they moved the remainder of the mob via Mt. Hopeless and sold them for five thousand pounds (about 250,000 dollars in 2009) at Blanchewater Station east of Marree.
Workers at Bowen Downs eventually discovered the years and the tracks heading south. A party of stockmen and aboriginal trackers set out ont he trail, many weeks behind Readford. They eventually reached Artracoona where they recognised the white bull.
Readford married Elizabeth Scuthorpe in Apr 1871 in Lewis Street Mudgee and the couple had at least one child, a daughter Jemima Mary Elizabeth in 1872.
Readford was apprehended in Sydney in 1872 and faced trial in Roma, Queensland. However, the jury members were so impressed by his achievements that they found him not guilty, whereupon the judge is said to have remarked "Thank God, gentlemen, that verdict is yours and not mine!". In response to the verdict, the Government shut down the Roma District Court for eight months.
In 1881, several counts of horse stealing resulted in Readford being jailed for eighteen months in Brisbane. After his release, he drove cattle from the Atherton Tableland to Dubbo. In 1883, on behalf of Macdonald, Smith and Company, Readford drove 3,000 cattle which were the first mob taken to Brunette Downs near Corella Creek on the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory where he was the station manager. In 1899 he became the manager of McArthur River Station.
Readford became something of a national hero, and the character Captain Starlight in Rolf Boldrewood’s book Robbery Under Arms was based in part on his exploits.
Readford was one of two bushrangers known by the name of Captain Starlight, the other being Frank Pearson, who was known as Captain Starlight in 1868, twenty one years prior to the publication of the novel in 1889. Boldrewood himself claimed that the Captain Starlight character in his novel was a composite of several bushrangers, including Henry Readford, but that the primary inspiration was Thomas Smith, a bushranger known as Captain Midnight. The early chapters of Robbery Under Arms are based on Readford's exploits, and the final 'shoot out' follows the shooting and death of Midnight.
An annual Harry Redford Cattle Drive commemorates Readford's exploits as a drover. A range of riders from the city and country participate in this droving expedition, taking part for three days or up to three weeks, at their choice.

In 1901 Readford set off from Brunette Downs to explore Central Australia, but drowned while trying to swim across Corella Creek, which had flooded due to heavy rain.