by Sylvia Anderson on Mon May 03, 2010 7:36 am
What is evidence really. The Thunderbolt story shows that the police evidence was perhaps wrong in regard to Fred Ward but not to "Thunderbolt", if there were two of them as family stories show. Yet it has continued to be perpetuated by officialdom and people who have an interest in the story.
I remember a Professor saying "History can never be classified as pure, unadulterated fact but only as perceived, interpreted knowledge". This especially applies to Newspaper articles, books, stories handed down through the generations, Police evidence, even the Bible and religious writings held to be sacred by so many people of the past, present and the future. It all must be interpreted, acknowledged or disbelieved by future generations.
Each new generation must make up its own mind about information from the past and about language. Language has changed and meanings of words have changed also.
"Bushranger" in todays terms may mean people who are exploiting, have exploited, our forests, bushlands, animal habitats for financial gain, for farming or housing construction, the consequence being destruction of the environment and extinction of animal species. In other words that covers the whole of humankind for we all live on this planet.
Yet the word "bushranger' in the minds of Australians still has a connection to all those infamous rascals who were outside of the law such as Ned Kelly and Thunderbolt.
Sylvia
Many Dungog, Port Stephens and Hunter families come into my tree.
