Wanted

Things went missing in Tasmania’s early days. Sometimes people went missing. There were adverts in the papers and in the Police Gazette. It was interesting to see what was stolen, but also interesting to see the descriptions of the people who were wanted on warrants for suspicion of theft. One of my favourites is of “Holy Joe”, wanted for horse theft.

Holy Joe was 30-35 years old, 5 feet 8 inches high, with a pale complexion inclined to swarthy. (Is that possible?) He had blue eyes, nose slightly turned up, high cheek bones, long black hair in ringlets, no whiskers, upper part of face of effeminate appearance, flat footed, low ankles, shuffling gait, dressed in red and brown jumper, worsted trousers and a new billy cock hat (like a bowler hat) with broad brim.

Presumably Joe’s trousers reached his feet so it must have been difficult to assess how low his ankles were. How can one be part effeminate or part swarthy? I can only say that the person who wrote this had a hard time making decisions. A week later, it was found that William Woolfe had been found to have stolen the horses which were now at Longford, so Holy Joe, if he hadn’t been found by now, was free to go.

Henry Faulkner was also sought. He was described as 17 years old and rather good looking! James Green, missing from the Orphan School was described as of genteel appearance. William Forward had a defect in one eye and turned his toes out when walking. Richard Storer was a man with a rather downcast look. Henry Smith had lost his wooden pipe lined with clay. It had been taken by a man with half Wellington boots with the heel of the left boot worn over on the inside.

Interestingly, missing teeth were included in several descriptions. It would seem that this was not the norm, so the general diet must have been low enough in sugar, to preserve the appearance of most.

If you had seen someone in a dark Sydney Shooting coat, wearing an opossum skin cap, having a white speck in one eye and accompanied by a large brindle kangaroo dog, he was wanted too. Another to fit into the animal theme, was “Ducky”. Ducky was 5 foot 8 inches tall, fresh complexion, thin face, light brown hair, small sandy whiskers and usually carries a duck with him!