FEAR OF FINNERTY -

Magistrate and mining Warden J.M. Finnerty was almost a legend on the goldfields. He was known as hard but fair and was widely respected by the miners.

One one occasion after two men were arrested and there was no where to put them, Finnerty confined them to a tent. Such was their respect for Finnerty (and probably their fear of the consequences if they disobeyed) that they would not leave the tent even though it was a hot day. The day got progressively hotter, and the two men got thirstier and thirstier so they hatched a plan to get some beer without leaving the tent.

When Finnerty checked on the men later in the day he found them both roaring drunk and on enquiring into how they got into that condition without breaking their word to him, Finnerty discovered that they had pulled the tent pegs and walked to the pub under the tent. Rumour has it that he was so amused and impressed with their ingenuity that he let them both off.

GET YOUR OWN COPY -

If you would like to get a PDF copy of the stories on this website that you can read offline or even print out and turn into your own hard copy book, you can order through PayPal at the link below. All sales of this book help us to gather more information and stories for this site and our main website. It is only $3.99 AUD!