bushrangers in the period of bushranging in the colony. These included the holding up of several villages, dozens of mail coach robberies and the regular theft of prized racehorses. In May 1865, Hall and the others realised that to survive they would have to leave New South Wales. They first retreated to an isolated area on the Goobang Creek, northwest of Forbes, intending to gather fresh horses and provisions for a long journey northwards. Their whereabouts were reported to the police by 'Goobang Mick' Coneley, a man who had earlier promised to give the gang assistance and protection. In late April, Hall temporarily separated from his companions, intending to meet them again a few days later at the Goobang Creek. But this time there were police waiting, hidden in the bush. At dawn on 5 May, Hall was ambushed by eight well-armed policemen who shot him at least thirty times as he attempted to run away. He fell and, as he held himself up by a sapling, cried, "I am wounded; shoot me dead." He died seconds later. Legacy Memorials Ben Hall's body was taken back to Forbes where an inquest was held by the Police Magistrate. He was buried in the Forbes cemetery on Sunday 7 May 1865. A headstone was erected in the 1920s. On 5 May 1957, the Forbes Historical Society dedicated a plaque at Goobang Creek, where Hall had been shot. There is a cave in an isolated section of the Weddin Range, near Grenfell, that is known as Ben Hall's Cave. A memorial called Ben Hall's Wall is located in Breeza, south of Gunnedah, New South Wales. Ben Halls Gap is a small section of State Forest named after the bushranger's father, and is located south of Nundle, New South Wales. There is a plaque on the roadside, close to Escort Rock, where Frank Gardiner's gang (including Hall), robbed the gold escort on 15 June 1862. The plaque was erected to mark the centenary of the robbery. There is a historical marker, on the old mountain road between Araluen and Majors Creek, where Ben Hall and his gang made a surprise attack, while attempting to rob the Araluen gold escort on 13 March 1865, during which Constable John Kelly was seriously wounded. The driver, John Blatchford, was slightly wounded, but was able to run downhill toward Araluen, to summon assistance. The gold was fearlessly defended