What were bushrangers in early colonial Tasmania?

In early colonial Tasmania, then known as Van Diemen’s Land, bushrangers were runaway convicts who became bandits in the rural regions of the island.12

During the precarious early years of the colony, these individuals challenged formal authority and survived by hunting kangaroos, an activity that further strained the already difficult relations between European settlers and the Tasmanian Aboriginal people. While bushrangers in the broader Australian context were often associated with acts of robbery, violence, and murder, some figures in the region gained a degree of notoriety or even a cult following for their actions.123

It is important to recognize that the activities of these bandits contributed to the instability of the frontier, reflecting the harsh and often violent conditions of the penal colony system.31