"Three Years with Thunderbolt" is the memoir of William Monckton, who for three years attended the famous nineteenth century Australian outlaw, Frederick Ward, better known as Captain Thunderbolt, as servant, companion and intimate friend. During this period he shared the bushranger's crimes and perils, and was twice severely wounded in encounters with the police. Monckton was arrested and convicted for crimes of robberies, but received a light sentence on account of his youth, being a minor at the time. After his release, he was a reformed person, and rose to become a prosperous farmer in New South Wales.