The dilemma was that their skills lay in horse riding and bushmanship but colonial policy had long kept the price per acre so high that the average member of the working classes could only dream of land ownership.
By the early 1860s, the excitement engendered by the precious metal in some districts caused aspiring bushrangers to move out of the bush (and for some, involvement with stock theft) and onto the roads where their activities were far more visible and their confidence in their bushmanship more apparent.