1:50 Drake Collectibles Bicentennial Mack Super Liner – Captain Starlight

Captain Starlight

 

Henry Arthur Readford was born in NSW, to Thomas Readford (1790-1860) and Jemima Smith (1801-1860). His father was a convict who had been transported to Australia for stealing 4 pieces of leather and later became a publican. Henry Readford  had eight brothers and sisters and was the youngest child.

He became a stockman and drover and began his career as a cattle thief in 1870 in Queensland when he stole over 1000 cattle from Bowen Downs station where he was working as a stockman. He and 2 other men drove the cattle overland to South Australia. Readford was caught in Sydney in 1872 and sent to trial but was found not guilty as, believe it or not, the jury were so impressed by what he had achieved they let him go. Ten years earlier the explorers Burke and Wills had died attempting to cross the exact same track!