The term 'bushranger' to describe a man or men who use the outback to remain unlawfully at large is not commonly in use these days due to the small number of people who find themselves in that situation however in recent years there's been a few people who do.

In 2012, Malcolm John Naden was finally sprung after using the vast plains of the Central West and the mountainous Barrington Ranges to hide from police after finding himself wanted for numerous crimes. Naden's time on the run was spent lying low in the grounds of Western Plains Zoo where it was discovered that he was eating some of the animals that the zoo keeps. Once sighted he headed for the Barringtons, close to the New South Wales mid-north coast and spent most of his time hid out in gorges that are generally considered impassable.

Mr Naden spent close to seven years evading police and at times he'd break into the homes of farmers to steal food, clothing and firearms, one of which he used to shoot at police near the town of Gloucester. Mr Naden ended up spending his last few years on the run walking in the steps of two other famous bushrangers, Captain Thunderbolt (who is lucky enough to have a state highway named in his honour) and Jimmy Governor, who was the last bushranger to be hanged in New South Wales. Naden is currently serving a life term in the Goulburn Supermax Prison for the murder of one of his cousins, the rape and murder of another cousin plus 40 years without parole for the attempted murder of a police officer and fourteen counts of burglary. He told police that if he was ever released from gaol he would reoffend so his punishment is seen as a way of making sure he will die inside.

Onto the present day, two bushrangers known as Gino and Mark Stocco are currently evading police as they duck and weave over the border between New South Wales and Victoria. Last week they were believed to be hiding out in the Wangaratta area in Central Victoria but were sighted last night in Gundagai, NSW when they stole petrol from a roadhouse there. At the present moment there's an each way bet they have crossed back into Victoria but they haven't since been sighted. The Stoccos have been on the run from police for about eight years and the attenpts to capture them have been elevated in the last week as they shot at police to evade arrest and even took the step of ramming a police car with a stolen Toyota Landcruiser, knowing that Victorian Police are no longer permitted to engage in high speed pursuits. The Stoccos are probably planning to spend more time south of the border because of this. They are also using a collection of stolen number plates issued by New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia to trick police.

More: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/fugitives-gino-and-mark-stocco-still-on-the-run-after-police-shootout...

And: http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/fugitive-father-and-son-gino-and-mark-stocco...

These men have yet to kill anyone though their intentions to do so in order to remain at large are obvious. Their crimes to date have included violent assaults on their many employers, larceny, vandalism and threats of harm. Their current exact location? Who knows...

The thing is that we again have city people chasing guys that know the bush, they are also smart enough to not carry mobile phones that are getting closer to being a personal eperb and you cannot hide as long as its running.

I would not be too confident driving a car with Doughnut tyres on some of the gravel roads around here. A lot are broken bitumen, overtaking is suicide, and when two cars pass in the opposite direction both will have right wheels on bitumen, left on gravel & its God help you if you hit the brakes in that configuration.

The gravel surface roads tend to be more dangerous dry than wet. One false move lookout as traction is just a thought in many cases. So any form of high speed chase is suicidal. Thin wall tyres are also at risk on these some of the rocks are sharp.

You do need to drive on these roads to really get a feel for them, if you like a challenge.

Marc

The thing is that we again have city people chasing guys that know the bush...

That was the problem they had with locating Malcolm Naden. He was self-trained to be elusive and cunning. His choice of hide out would have given him not only a visual advantage but an audible one too. When in deep virgin bush even a half-deaf bloke like me can hear people approaching from a very long distance in certain places.

The problem for the police was that every time there was a sighting of Naden they'd send in the Special Operations boys. They are super fit and well trained in attack, defence and firearms. What they can't do though is go without a meal. A modern day bushranger like this lot will have very little with them, just like their 18th and 19th century forebears. A gun, some ammo and the knowledge of the next step they'll take is all they'd need. Food will be consumed when an opportunity allows. Coppers in a special operations group will be weighed down with equipment, flak jackets and police radios and all those feet carrying all that weight will tire them before they get within a bull's roar of the targets. Not only that but they will be making so much noise they will be heard by the targets from kilometres away.

One thing puzzles me out of all this though - and that is why I only knew of these blokes in the last two weeks. Before the recent gun battle with police I'd never heard anything about anyone called Stocco. If they have been on the run for eight years the government should have been doing more to publicise the fact and to make everyone aware they need to do more than putting some mugshots on the police 'Most Wanted' websites.

You are quite right about the dusty tracks too. Keeping anything from hitting a tree on curves with corrugations or 'marbles' would give a few people quite a surprise. A wet surface is indeed more grippy as long as it isn't too slushy. Any member familiar with gravel roads in the Central West or New England regions of NSW will know what I mean. Most of those roads are sealed now but when I lived up north of Sydney some years ago it was just the norm to drive on those roads like they were urban motorways.

I do have a "problem solving" flow chart here. One step notes that "if you can hide it" you don't have a problem.

The red faces now occur, as it can no longer be hidden and the Police now have a problem explaining why they have continuously let them slip through their fingers? However, in the meantime we can all sit back & enjoy the game of "Cat & Mouse":

This is like Wylie Coyote trying to catch the Road Runner.

Marc

It's pretty much a carbon copy of the Naden saga, that's for sure. Naden made the police look foolish a few times in the months leading up to his eventual capture and that's how all bushrangers picked up their notoriety and folk legend. Despite committing some disgraceful crimes in their times their efforts to evade police ended up being a source of entertainment to many when under more normal circumstances it wouldn't.

The Stoccos won't be able to keep driving off from servos though. People will eventually cotton on to 70-series Landcruisers entering their stations. The big problem there is that just about every farmer owns one. They are the Holden Commodore of the rural scene and 99.9% of them are white. So how they will next fill their tank is a mystery. They may attempt to steal a different vehicle and carry jerry cans of spare fuel to increase their range. It's what I'd be doing if I was in their spot.

Reminds me of Keystone Cops.

"Father and son fugitives Gino and Mark Stocco have been caught by NSW Police in Dunedoo in central western NSW.

The elusive pair were captured on Wednesday after eight years on the run in rural NSW and Victoria.
Father and son fugitives Mark and Gino Stocco.

They reportedly surrendered with their arms up to heavily armed police, the Nine Network reported"

Yep, in the words of Captain Starlight in Robbery under arms, they got took.

Glad to hear they are banged up. They won't be back on the streets for a long long time I reckon.

To top it all off, it looks like they may have bumped off a farmer and then gone back to his property to lie low.

http://www.news.com.au/national/crime/fugitives-gino-and-mark-stocco-have-been-arrested/story-fns0kb1g-1227585300170

Alleged matter of murder plus two counts of attempted murder. They'll throw the key away now.

I noticed that the media had no real idea where they were. or were they being sensible and not giving the game away as they so often do.

Its good to see acuracy in the media. The arrest was made near Elong Elong, 50km from Dunedoo.

Its good to see acuracy in the media

Accuracy in the media? Now there's a novel concept. Remember the old saying about newspapers: "There are only two things that you can believe printed in them (a) the date and (b) the price."

I can't help but agree on accuracy comments. Credibility in news fed to us by the mass media is nothing short of appalling these days.

In stark contrast l think Marc got something right when he commented on city coppers being used to hunt these blokes down. They ended up being collared by local coppers employing a classic tactic - 'don't let the bastards hear you coming'.

A job well done.

I must admit that despite the community safety issue created by these blokes, I've found following the story refreshing in place of the usual politics and petty muckraking that is often seen on the major news websites now.

That actually reminds me of a recently deceased Regular army / Vietnam vet. Who pointed out that you stayed away from the Yanks if you wanted a long life.

The never seemed to want to be seen dead wearing the wrong brand of toiletries and in the unlikely event that the Vietnamese could not smell them from a mile off, they advanced as quietly as a herd of Elephants, crashing through the scrub.

It's a long way from Tarcutta to Dunedoo. No accuracy there at all.