BLIND FREDDIE. Sir Frederick Pottinger. Bart.
1..A FAMOUS AUSTRALIAN EPITHET !!
AUSTRALIAN SAYING’S such as:=
Even Blind Freddie could see that…….
Even Blind Freddie would not do that……
Even Blind Freddie could do that……
Was he an IDIOT ?-- INCOMPETant ?--SUBORDINATE ?--- Was he PERHAPS VILLIFIED ?--CARELESS with PISTOLS ?
2…POTTINGER’S (BLIND FREDDIE ) STORY: below
The man, who was purported to be the butt of the epithet.
3…Australian happening’s at the TIME 1859 to 1865 below
Many things were happening in Australia’s history
POTTINGER’S (BLIND FREDDIE ) STORY:
His failure to capture Ben hall, the Bushranger and his associates, led him to undertake” setting a trap” for him. He had previously arrested Hall who was acquitted by a Court.
In this “trap” he undertook to ride a horse in a local Race Meeting at Wowingragong Races; against Police Headquarters directions of Policemen riding in Races: to entice Hall and friends out into the open, where his Police Officers could re arrest them.
This “trap” failure and riding in a Race, led to him being dismissed and having to go to Sydney to answer charges. Mounting the stage Coach on the way after picking apples for the journey at Wascoe's Inn in the Blue Mountains, he shot himself in the upper stomach with his own pistol. He subsequently died in Sydney a few weeks later. Many dignitaries, including the Premier of the day, attended his funeral.
IDIOT ?----Sir Frederick Pottinger, born 1831 in India, to a Lt. Col. in the British East India Company.---Became a Baronet on his Fathers death.--He was a superb horseman, heavy gambler and a rake.-- Educated at Eton, also purchased a Commission in the Cold Stream Guards.--Wasted his Fathers bequest, and sold his Mother’s jewels.--Emigrated or sent by family to Australia, to re make his fortune in finding GOLD?, in which he was nbg.
INCOMPETANT ?----.Went to Sydney and joined Mounted Police as a Trooper. For several years was part of the Gold Escort between Gundagai and Goulburn.--- Indulged himself in playing Pool and fighting. Lived up to his “Rake’s” image---.His Superiors found he was an English Baronet and Promoted him Clerk of Petty Sessions at Dubbo, then to Inspector of Mounted Police in the NSW Western districts, based in Young ( an area rich in gold, originally called Lambing Flat).--- Bushrangers infested the area.. The Lambing Flat riots against the Chinese miners was the pre cursor to Australia’s “White Australia Policy.”
INSUBORDINATE ?----Certainly he went against Police Orders in riding in a Race Meeting—was earlier Publicly cautioned for fighting.
He had previously threatened to “horse whip” a member of the NSW Legislature because of his criticism.
PERHAPS VILLIFIED ? Most of the Newspapers of the Day, with Politicians and some general folk, probably resented his being given Positions of Authority without having to earn them, and then he appeared to disappoint them, in his endeavors.--- His capture and prosecution rate appears very low.
CARELESS with PISTOLS ?---. At Frank Gardner’s girl friends house he accidently let his pistol off, Gardner escaped--At Ben Halls homestead ambush he suffered a pistol misfire.--- Mounting the Coach to go to Sydney, to defend himself against dismissal charges, he shot himself in the stomach. He subsequently died of the injuries and infection at Sydney.
Australian happening’s at the TIME 1859 to 1865
1. Geelong College founded.
2. Burke and Wills, exploration to the Gulf, their deaths, burials, and statue erected in Melbourne.
3. Victorian Naval defense ship Cerberus, second ship through Suez Canal, sent to Gulf of Carpentaria to assist Burke and Wills.
4. Bass Strait Submarine cable layed from Cape Otway Victoria, to Circular Head Tasmania.
5. Welcome Stranger golden nugget found at Ballarat.
6. Chinese Gold Miners attacked at Lambing Flat ( later called Young). About 45,000 Chinese in Australia on Gold Diggings
7. Aussie Rules invented to keep Cricketers fit in Winter.
8. Sydney experienced Horse Drawn trams.
9. England wins first ever Cricket match against Victoria.
10. Sugar Cane first grown and processed for sugar in Queensland.
11. First Public demonstration of Electric Light in Sydney. Adelaide gets Gas Lamp lighting. Melbourne had Gas Lighting in 1857.
12. Rail Line connects Melbourne to Echuca on the River Murray. Possibility of Victorian controlled “distribution”
13. Rugby played for the First Time in Australia. Built around 2 teams at Sydney University.
14. Salmon and Trout eggs successfully received from England, were landed at Tasmania.
15. WILLIAM ARNOT makes his first BISCUITS in Sydney, after opening in Newcastle.
16. Adam Lindsey Gordon, poet, made his famous jump over the safety fence at Mt. Gambier’s Blue Lake South Australia..
17. Rabbits, foxes released in Western Victoria.
18. Brisbane attached to Eastern States telegraph Line. Mail Steamers docked in Adelaide then sent the NEWS over the wires.
19. Pottinger dies, and his old nemesis Ben Hall, Mad Dog Morgan and others finally shot.
