Moondyne Joe

Joseph Bolitho Johns (c. 1826–August 13, 1900), better known as Moondyne Joe, was Western Australia's best known bushranger. Little is known of Joseph Johns's early life. Born in Cornwall, England around 1826 and raised as a Roman Catholic, he was the third of six children of blacksmith Thomas Johns and his wife Mary. It is likely that he contracted smallpox in his youth, as later records describe him as "pockmarked". His father died some time between 1832 and 1841, and Johns and his three brothers took work as copper miners. In 1841 the family was living at Illogan, Cornwall, but by 1848 Johns had migrated to Wales, taking work as an iron ore miner, probably at the Clydach Iron Works. On 15 November 1848, Johns and an associate named...