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'Michael Howe, referred to as ‘Governor of the Woods’, virtually held the settlers of the Midlands to ransom. He gained his power through his alliances with some wealthy and influential landowners and with local Aboriginal people through his partner who was known to the settlers as ‘Mary Cockerill’ or ‘Black Mary’. He embodied the myth that there was a life of freedom to be had in the bush of Van Diemen’s Land and was a hero to convicts and ticket-of-leavers who could imagine a better life. Howe’s life ended inevitably and violently at the hands of two convict bounty hunters assisted by Private William Pugh of the 48th Regiment.' (Source: Shadows of the Past website)
An article on the bushranging career of Michael Howe appeared in Breton's Excursion in New South Wales and was republished in James Tegg's Literary News, 1.2 (19 August 1837): 13.
