His real name is not certain, but in April 1832 he was convicted under the name George Wilkinson for attempting to steal a wooden till and copper coins to the total value of 7 shillings.
[1] In the summer of 1839 he formed a bushranger gang of escaped convicts which roamed in New South Wales, from Maitland to the New England Highway, in the Hunter Region, and down to Brisbane Water near Gosford.
The gang members gained a Robin Hood like reputation, for supposedly giving some of the plunder of the wealthy to their assigned convict servants, and for adopting a gallant air and flamboyant dress, and tying pink ribbons to their horses' bridles.
Davis immediately retreated with the gang to a hideout at Doughboy Hollow at Murrurundi,[2] but they were surprised by a posse that had followed them.
[1][5] In June 1995, an opera based on the life of Davis, Teddy the Jewboy, by poet and composer Chris Mann, was performed in Brisbane.