Dark Outlaw

{{short description|1945 novel by Frank Clune}}

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| name = Dark Outlaw

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| author = Frank Clune

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| country = Australia

| language = English

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| subject = Frank Gardiner

| genre = historical novel

| set_in = colonial New South Wales

| publisher = Angus and Robertson

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| pub_date = 1945

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| published = Sydney

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Dark Outlaw: The Story of Gunman Gardiner is a 1945 Australian historical novel by Frank Clune about bushranger Frank Gardiner.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article272471624 |title=Exciting New Novel By Frank Clune |newspaper=Daily Mirror |issue=1200 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 March 1945 |accessdate=15 April 2024 |page=9 (Country Edition) |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172493857 |title=Advocate Magazine |newspaper=Advocate |volume=LXXXI |issue=4823 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=8 January 1948 |accessdate=15 April 2024 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In 1948, Clune stated it was his best-selling book, with over 80,000 copies sold.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129906763 |title=AUTHOR FRANK CLUNE IN ADELAIDE |newspaper=The News |volume=50 |issue=7,767 |location=South Australia |date=26 June 1948 |accessdate=15 April 2024 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} He wrote this and Ben Hall, Bushranger as historical novels while researching his large non fiction book Wild Colonial Boys.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243543056 |title=New Rooks Reviewed -- |newspaper=The Heral] |issue=22,338 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 December 1948 |accessdate=15 April 2024 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130245017 |title=Back in the days of bushrangers |newspaper=The News |volume=52 |issue=7,928 |location=South Australia |date=1 January 1949 |accessdate=15 April 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Clune rewrote the material and published a new version in 1952 called Gunman Gardiner.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130821318 |title=BOOK REVIEWS BY H. N. HUFFADINE |newspaper=News |volume=58 |issue=8,894 |location=South Australia |date=9 February 1952 |accessdate=15 April 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49013347 |title=Books In Brief |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=68 |issue=20,449 |location=Western Australia |date=2 February 1952 |accessdate=15 April 2024 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}}

He later wrote a proper biography of Gardiner called King of the Road, which was published in 1967.