Almanac Poetry: The Life and Death of Ben Hall
Ben Hall, 1863. [Wikimedia Commons.]
The Life and Death of Ben Hall
To many, Ben Hall is an oft-reproduced
daguerreotype of a handsome man
taken in a Sydney studio
in the early eighteen-sixties,
one of those old, faded Civil War types
of photographs which blanch the face,
highlight the black/white contrasts
and make its sitter seem
forlorn, romantic and doomed.
Well regarded in his district,
central New South Wales,
Ben was a respectable farmer
before life went awry.
But after wrongful imprisonment
on suspicion of highway robbery,
then returning home to find his cattle strayed
and his wife having run away with a cop,
he didn’t feel much to live for
and took to the open road.
For three years, Hall and his gang
led the colonial authorities
the merriest of dances.
They held up three towns,
robbed who they pleased,
embarrassing police
at every opportunity.
Mail coaches reached their destination
‘Ben Hall permitting’.
But roaring days must come to an end
and Ben’s gang fell apart.
May 5, 1865,
a fateful day:
five days after being declared an outlaw,
now able to be shot on sight,
Ben was camped near a creek
a few miles out of Forbes.
A childhood friend,
Black tracker, Bill Dargin,
led police to where Hall slept.
Ben’s horse snickered,
waking him up
but he didn’t have a chance.
as the police opened fire.
Clutching at a sapling, he cried,
‘Shoot me dead, Billy!
Don’t let them take me alive!’
Though to many Ben Hall is oft-reproduced
daguerreotype of a handsome man,
taken in a Sydney studio
in the early eighteen-sixties,
one of those old, faded civil war types
of photographs which blanch the face,
highlight the black/white contrasts
and make its sitter seem
forlorn, romantic and doomed
– and photographs so often lie –
in Ben’s sad case,
his picture
pretty much did him justice.
(Acknowledgements: parts of this poem have been previously published – the main example in this context is ‘Ben Hall’s Photograph’, which first appeared, in a slightly different form, in Quadrant, 2008; then in my second book-length poetry collection, Lionheart Summer, Picaro Press, 2011; reprinted by Ginninderra Press, 2018.)
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
Kevin Densley’s latest poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws…I’m Feeling Too Indolent, is available HERE
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His fifth book-length poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws ... I'm Feeling Too Indolent, was published in late 2023 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Hall was probably the most fascinating of all the Australian bushrangers, I feel, for a range of reasons – Ned Kelly included.