Pepperbox revolver

Used by Wingy, a Tasmanian bushranger, c1840–50
Iron and wood, six revolving barrels and bar hammer
Bequest of Sir William Dixson, 1952
DR 127

Otherwise known as Daniel Stewart, Wingy arrived in NSW to serve seven years for horse stealing. He gained his ticket of leave in 1848 but was convicted for sheep stealing in 1851. This time he received a life sentence, which he was to serve on Norfolk Island. However he arrived in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in 1854 and the following year received a probation pass. He soon took up bushranging, along with ‘Flowers’, ‘Black Peter’ and ‘Sydney Jim’.

This revolver came into official custody following Wingy’s arrest in September 1858, when police finally caught up with him and Sydney Jim after an armed hold up near the town of Ross some months earlier. Constable McIvor managed to take Wingy alive. Sydney Jim (William Thornton) was killed.

It was reported that Wingy snatched up his revolver to shoot but McIvor managed to get him to drop it. It was later deposited with the clerk at Green Ponds police station. A forerunner of the modern revolver, the pepperbox is named because it resembles a pepper grinder in shape.