Escort Rock

Today we had a leisurely trip home taking some roads we don't usually traverse.

Just outside the small hamlet of Eugowra in the central west of NSW is the site of Australia's biggest and most famous robbery on 15th June 1862.

Eight bushrangers hid behind this rock, now known as Escort Rock, and ambushed the stage coach carrying 2,719 ounces of gold and £3,700 in cash (worth many millions in today's values).

All the bushrangers were eventually brought to justice. 
One was hanged but the ringleader, Frank Gardiner, was released after serving 10 years and exiled to America where he owned the Twilight Star Saloon in San Francisco. He died there around the turn of the century.

Much of the gold haul has never been found.