Sydney Jim

William Thornton (1816 – 29 September 1858), alias Sydney Jim, was an English convict who was transported to the penal colony of New South Wales in 1836.

On 1 March 1836, he was convicted at Salop Quarter Sessions of stealing sheep and received a sentence of transportation for seven years to the penal colony of New South Wales.

Initially operating in the West Coast district, the gang moved into the Central Highlands, where they bailed up travelers and properties in and around Hamilton, Bothwell and other localities, causing widespread fear and alarm.

A small group of police officers, including Sergeant Mclvor and Constables Shaw and Waller, were tipped off about the pair's hideout and set a trap to ambush them.

[2] In her 1925 book Bushrangers: Reminiscences of Early Tasmania, May J Nichols includes an account of Thornton and his gang bailing up her family home at Bothwell.

[3] Bartlett Adamson covered Thornton's bushranging career in the article "Sydney Jim Pays a Visit", published in Smith's Weekly in 1940.