Mary Ann Bugg - Aboriginal Bushranger, Worimi woman & 'Thunderbolt's Gin'

| Captain Thunderbolt 1951 | Historical References | Mary Ann Bugg | Script |

"Thunderbolt's Gin"

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Mary Ann / Maggie
3. Baxter controversy 2011
4. References

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1. Introduction

When one speaks of the Australian bushranger tradition, the first thing that comes to mind is usually the Kelly Gang, led by Ned Kelly (1854-1880), and their Victorian adventures during the second half of the nineteenth century. As such, bushranging in Australian history is generally considered a male domain, and rightly so. However, there were at least three notable exceptions, namely Jessie Hickman, Mary Cockerill, and the subject of this article - Mary Ann Bugg (1834-1905), the partner of Fred Ward (1835-1870), also known as Captain Thunderbolt. Mary Ann was an Australian Aboriginal, 'a proud Worimi woman', as noted in her Wikipedia entry and the webpage at the McCrossin's Mill Uralla Museum website. Mary Ann's mother was an Indigenous Australian and her father an English convict. She was intimately connected with Frederick Ward from 1860 through to 1867, bearing him three children and partnering him in bushranging activities. Mary Ann played an important role in Ward's life and that of their family, facilitating him in becoming the longest surviving Australian bushranger, operating for a decade during the 1860s.

A book entitled Captain Thunderbolt and His Lady, featuring Mary Ann Bugg, was published by Carol Baxter in 2011. Over the years numerous articles, websites and blogs have appeared bringing to light her exploits and the important role she played, not only in the Captain Thunderbolt story, but also in her own as a mother and community member.

The present article brings together material pertaining to Mary Ann Bugg and some of the controversy surrounding her life, and specifically her time with Frederick Ward, Due to the couple's notoriety, this is relatively well documented. Having said that, there is also much confusion and myth surrounding Ward and Bugg, and this continues to the present day, exacerbated to some degree by her portrayal in the 1951 Australian bushranger film Captain Thunderbolt.

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2. Mary Ann / Maggie

Mary Ann Bugg, being Aboriginal, was subject to the extreme racism and abuses commonly handed out by non-Indigenous society in Australia throughout her lifetime. She and her children were discriminated against, as was Ward in publically being in an open relationship with her. This was despite the fact that relationships with Aboriginal women were common in Australia during the colonial period, though looked down upon by a generally arrogant, class-conscious and racist white society of largely British background. Official marriages were rare.

Evidence that this racial bias existed through to the late twentieth century can be seen in the fact that almost a century later - during 1951 - her true story was altered in the Australian cinema and television film Captain Thunderbolt directed by Cecil Holmes. In the script written by Creswick Jenkinson, Mary Ann Bugg, the partner of Frederick Ward, is transformed into Maggie, the wife of Alan Blake, Ward's partner in crime. Though the relationship is a loving one, it is also tragic, with Maggie suffering illness throughout the film, and ultimately providing information to the police that would result in the death of her husband.

Maggie and Alan, Captain Thunderbolt 1951.

In the film, Thunderbolt's childhood sweetheart and love becomes the non-Indigenous and very white Joan. Maggie is played by Loretta Boutmy (1929-2015). Her father can from the Pacific island of Noumea and her mother Malta, an island located off the coasts of Sicily and northern Africa. She used black-face makeup in the film to create an appearance as as Australian Aborigine. During her film and stage career Boutmy made a number of such appearances. In publicity for the film, she is described as follows:

Loretta plays the part of Maggie, the half-caste Aboriginal girl who knew Thunderbolt and Blake. This is her first film. She was "discovered" by director Cecil Holmes who saw the one and only play in which she has ever appeared. Loretta, however, has done a great deal of ballet and toe dancing, and was blues singer with Les Welch's well known Sydney jazz band. She is 22.

The script included a marriage ceremony between Maggie and Alan. Unfortunately that scene was censored out of the film as shown on television in Australia and also in overseas release, such as in England. The image of a white man marrying an Aboriginal woman was apparently too controversial for cinema and television release during the 1950s and 1960s, such was the racism present and supported across most levels of Australian and British society. Radical elements of the Captain Thunderbolt script such as this were part of the reason the film's release was held back, likely at the instigation of the conservative Menzies government at a time when efforts were being made to outlaw the Communist Party of Australia and in the United States the Macarthy trials were underway. The director and producer of the film were both exiled New Zealand Communists.

Mudgee General Cemetary

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2. The Baxter book controversy 2011

In 2011 Carol Baxter published her book Captain Thunderbolt & His Lady. In it she included the statement that, according to her research, Bugg died in 1905, not 1867 as previously reported. This gave rise to a considerable controversy and numerous letters to the editor in local newspapers. It was the second major controversy in the Captain Thunderbolt story. The other was around the issue of whether Ward was shot and killed by the police in 1870, or it was his partner who died - as presented in the 1951 Captain Thunderbolt movie - and that the real bushranger actually escaped to the United States where he started a new life and passed away due to old age. As they say, truth is often stranger than fiction.

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3. References

Baxter, Carol, Captain Thunderbolt & His Lady, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2011.

-----, Bushranger Thunderbolt and Mary Ann Bugg [website], 2011.

Bierens, Kali. The Captain’s Lady: Mary Ann Bugg, Honours Thesis, University of Tasmania, 2008.

Bushrangers & Bloodborne: Ep.3 Mary Ann Bugg, Always Something Productions, 16 November 2022, YouTube, duration: 42.49 minutes.

Dulaney, Michael, Mary Ann Bugg, the Aboriginal bushranger erased from Australian folklore, ABC News, 17 November 2019.

Loretta Boutmy, New Theatre History [website], 18 October 2023.

Mary Ann Bugg [webpage], McCrossin's Mill Uralla Museum, Uralla Historical Society, 4 June 2021.

Mary Ann Bugg - Flirting in the 1800s, Sheilas, 8 August 2018, YouTube, duration: 1.12 minutes.

Mary Ann Bugg [audio], What You Should Know - Australia, 20 June 2022, YouTube, duration: 13.47 minutes.

Mary Ann Bugg [webpage], Wikipedia, accessed 10 May 2024.

Mary Ann Bugg Burrows, Find a Grave [website], accessed 26 September 2024. 

Roberts, David Andrew and Carol Baxter, Setting the record straight on Mary Ann Bugg, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 99(1), June 2013, 55-76.

The Captain's Lady - The Ballad of Mary Ann Bugg [song], Bill 'Swampy' Marsh, 28 March 2018, YouTube, duration: minutes.

Tisdell, Steph, Mary Ann Bugg - The first female Aboriginal bushranger [video], Drunk History Australia, 2021, Facebook, duration: 6.33 minutes.

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| Captain Thunderbolt 1951 | Historical References | Mary Ann Bugg | Script |

Last updated: 26 September 2024

Michael Organ, Australia (Home)