The hideout is one of many caves and bush hideouts used by Captain Thunderbolt, a bushranger named Fred Ward – the longest roaming bushranger in Australian history.
Thunderbolt Hideout is 12 km north-east of Tenterfield, an area he was familiar with many caves and bushy hideouts across the New England. Thunderbolts Cave 
north of Uralla is another location you can find (and one of the first brown signs on this website).
The large overhanging rock provided shelter, and the top of the rock made for a great lookout for oncoming travellers and gold shipments. This was the main road to Warwick before the New England Highway was formed.
One of the reasons Captain Thunderbolt was Australia’s longest roaming bushranger, is he was a Robin Hood of sorts. He only stole the best horses and never shot a single person, so he had a good relationship with the locals. A legend tells of Fred Ward holding up a travelling German band. He made them play for him and gave some of their money back before sending them on their way.
An excellent horseman, Fred had an eye for quality horses, ending up being caught in a horse stealing racket. He was convicted of horse theft and jailed for four years, imprisoned in Sydney. While on a prison work group on Cockatoo Island in 1863, he escaped, swimming to his freedom with a companion.
Over the next six years, Fred became the notorious Captain Thunderbolt, robbing mailmen, travellers, inns, stores, and stations in Northern New South Wales, and Southern Queensland. In 1870, the police caught up with him in Uralla, NSW. Called on to surrender, he shouted “I’ll died first” and fired a shot. Constable Walker returned fire and struck Captain Thunderbolt, leading to his death the following day.
He was buried in Uralla, at Thunderbolts Grave , another brown sign of Captain Thunderbolt. Although, there was some suspicion that it may have been his uncle or bother.
The brown sign is on the side of the road at the site with a short 150 metre walk to the hideout or use a 1km walk between Thunderbolts Hideout and the WW2 Tank Traps down the hill. The walk between them was closed for renovations or repairs when we visited in 2025, so we went to both individually.
There is post that once had a sign but has been damaged and lost. Afterwards, we realised that this was the end of the walk to Thunderbolt’s Hideout, but we kept exploring further.
