Captain Thunderbolt - songs

Captain Thunderbolt : 1951 film | 1968 documentary | Annie Rixon | Copyright | Historical References | Mary Ann Bugg | Script | Song |

Thunderbolt, 45" single cover.

During August 2025 the writer came across on eBay two undated 7 inch vinyl 45 rpm single recordings of a song entitled Thunderbolt and sung by Australia-born Jimmy Parkinson. The title referred to the Robin Hood-like bushranger Frederick Ward who operated under the pseudonym Captain Thunderbolt in the Armidale region of north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, during the 1860s. The other well-known Captain Thunderbolt was the fictional Irish highwayman and rebel, who was partnered by a Captain Lightfoot, made famous in the 1955 Hollywood film Captain Lightfoot starring Rock Hudson and based on the 1954 novel by W.R. Burnett.

One of the Australian recordings was on the Festival Custom Recording label, and the second on the Prestolympic label. Both labels were yellow, and it appeared that they were manufactured around the same time and at the same production facility. On the B side was the song Mulga Fever, composed by Jack Heine and performed by the same performers - Jimmy Parkinson with Gus Merzi's Quartet.


Thunderbolt, x2 7" singles, eBay, 18 August 2025.

The labels provided the following information regarding the recording:

Title - Thunderbolt

Songwriting credit - Pannifex and Cumming

Performance - Jimmy Parkinson with Gus Merzi's Quartet

Catalogue number - MX13793

Annotation - Henry Lawson Festival Award (Festival Custom Recording)

Duration - 2.10 minutes

B-side - Mulga Fever, duration: 2.10 minutes.

No further information was provided by the eBay entry, such as date or place of the recording, or of the Henry Lawson Festival mentioned. The Discog entry contains the record cover image illustrated at the top of the article. The single is available on YouTube as follows, with Mulga Fever followed by Thunderbolt.

Jimmy Parkinson & Gus Merzi's Quartet - Thunderbolt / Mulga Fever [Festival, Aussie country], If That Ain't Country, YouTube, duration: 4.20 minutes.

The lyrics for the Thunderbolt song are as follows:

Thunderbolt! It's Thunderbolt, riding to Uralla along the Moonbeam Ranges, as he used to ride of yore. The past returns to meet him and his ghostly plans to greet him. But he needn't fear the trooper. He is saved forever more.

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2. When and why?

Based on a reference to another Festival Custom Recording single with a similar label and text, it is likely this recording was pressed during in Australia during 1964. However, according to Discogs, Jimmy Parkinson was an Australian singer (19 December 1930 - 25 March 2019) who began his career in a coffee lounge at Sydney's Coogee Beach and went on to work for the ABC, before moving to England in 1955. His recording career therein is noted as extending from 1949 through to 1957, and largely on the Columbia label. There are a number of recordings listed as unknown date, and Thunderbolt is one of those. He returned to Australia in 1957, and became a presenter, hosting Your Hit Parade on the 9 Network from 1957 to 1959, and The Jimmy Parkinson Show on Sydney television station ATN-7 in 1958.

The National Film and South Archives of Australia catalogue lists the date of the Prestolympic pressing as 1962.

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3. Other Thunderbolt songs

In 1962 Australian folksinger Gary Shearston signed with Leedon Records and released the single The Ballad of Captain Thunderbolt b/w The Man from Snowy River.

The Second Wave: Australian Pop and Rock, 1964 - 1969 - Collection Guide lists the song Thunderbolt! by The Denvermen on the EMI Custom label, Sydney, though no precise date for the recording is given, apart from 196?. According to the Milesago database entry for The Denvermen, it was actually titled Captain Thunderbolt, b/w Blue Mountains and released during 1964. Whether it is the same song as that sung by Jimmy Parkinson around the same time is not known.

In 1982 John Paul Young issued the single Thunderbolt b/w Dream World on the Dreamworld label.

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3. References

Australian Popular Music Catalogue - Vinyl Records, Part 3 - N to T, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Canberra, n.d., 568p.

Australian Popular Music Catalogue - Vinyl Records, Part 4 - U to Z, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Canberra, n.d., 568p.

Festival Custom Recording, 45cat, accessed 18 August 2025.

Gary Shearston, History of Australian Music from 1960 until 2000, [website], n.d., accessed 18 August 2025.

Gus Merzi's Quartet - Jimmy Parkinson - Thunderbolt / Mulga Fever, Discogs, accessed 18 August 2025.

Marshall, Valda, In the Como manner, Sydney Morning Herald. 8 November 1958.

Jimmy Parkinson, Discogs, accessed 18 August 2025.

Jimmy Parkinson - Henry Lawson Festival Award, 45cat, accessed 18 August 2025.

The Denvermen, Milesago, n.d., accessed 18 August 2025.

The Second Wave: Australian Pop and Rock, 1964 - 1969 - Collection Guide, Pop Archives, n.d., 314p.

They keep singing along, Australian Women's Weekly, 17 April 1963.

Wikipedia, Jimmy Parkinson, Wikipedia, accessed 18 August 1995.

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Captain Thunderbolt : 1951 film | 1968 documentary | Annie Rixon | Copyright | Historical References | Mary Ann Bugg | Script | Song |

Last updated: 18 August 2025

Michael Organ, Australia

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