Francis Augustus Hare

Francis Augustus ("Frank") Hare (1830–1892) was a British pioneer settler and police superintendent in the colony of Victoria, best known for his role in the capture of the notorious bushrangers known as the Kelly gang at the town of Glenrowan in north-west Victoria.

Born in the Cape Colony in 1830 and educated there, after a stint working on his older brother's sheep farm at Paarl, he left the Cape to try his luck on the Victorian gold fields, sailing to Australia in 1852. After a series of adventures and some success prospecting, an opportunity arose to secure a position in the newly reformed Victorian Mounted police. He was at the outset sent to Beechworth to oversee the gold escorts. During the next fifteen years he worked throughout the north-west and central goldfields and was instrumental in the capture of the bushranger Harry Power. By the end of the 1860s he reached the rank of Superintendent and was later promoted to the Richmond Barracks, (Melbourne) overseeing the Bourke District.

He led the hunt for the Kelly gang (Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart) on two occasions in the late 1870s. He was to prove unsuccessful on his first attempt and had to retire from the chase following a fall from his horse. On his second attempt when he had been specifically requested by the colony's legislature to return, he met with the gang at Glenrowan in July 1880. During the ensuing shootout, he was severely wounded. The troopers went on to capture Ned Kelly and bring him to trial, whilst the other three members of the gang were killed.

After a Royal Commission into the Kelly affair, Hare resigned and was appointed a police magistrate, a position he held until his death. He was allocated the largest share of the reward for the capture of the Kelly gang. Provided by Wikipedia