In 2016, the prolific Lake Macquarie author and bushwalker turned his five decades worth of adventures, photos and findings into a book, Bushranger Tracks, which acts as a comprehensive field guide to bushranger sites in NSW and Victoria.

Now Mr Powell feels that the story is complete with the release of a second companion book, Bushranger Tracks II: Beyond the Legends, which charts historic bushranger sites in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.

"The two books cover the whole country as a national field guide to bushranging sites," Mr Powell said.

"They're not just a bushranger book but a book they can take as a field guide when they're travelling around in five states. This has never been done before.

"The second book I really wanted out to complete the story. The story was only half told in the first one because it was half the country."

Bushrangers have long been part of the Australian psyche. They were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from authorities. Even today tales of legendary bushrangers are told and preserved in history.

Mr Powell's interest in Australia's colonial outlaws started in 1968 when he went camping near the notorious Stringybark Creek ambush site in Victoria.

That's where three policemen were shot dead by infamous bushranger Ned Kelly in October 1878.

"I think what fascinates people about bushranging, it's not the crimes because they're horrific, terrible murders and crimes, but I think it's that bush thing," Mr Powell said. "We admire bushrangers because they could live by their wits in the bush, outwitting the law.

"What I am particularly interested in is the geography of the history - what happens and where did it happened, and show readers where the events took place. And a lot of those places are still there.

For 50 years I've been photographing these places. It has been a passion of mine for a very long time."

Mr Powell, from Valentine, retired from full-time teaching in 2010. He now teaches casually at Warners Bay Public School. He has written 13 books on bushrangers and bushwalking.

The first of his Bushranger Tracks book, which is dedicated to his wife Brenda and four adult sons, took 50 years to write and publish. The second book, released in 2019, took three years to write and published.

However, the work to publish the second book was "intense", with Mr Powell and wife Brenda taking a number of fact finding trips to Rockhampton, Brisbane, Western Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.

"I know beforehand exactly what I want because I know I don't have much time and I want to make the most of every minute I have in these places," Mr Powell said.

"I go with my own ideas but then you meet the experts and the locals, they just full in the gaps beautifully and show me wonderful things."

While Mr Powell says he is "not a bushranger expert" he does believe that with his 50 years' worth of research, exploring and sourcing information he is an authority on bushranger sites where "the spirit of those times is to be felt".

"There are a lot of bushranger history book, a lot of very very good ones," he said.

"I don't set myself up as a bushranger historian but I am pretty clued up on the sites, geography of it and where things happen and I can tell people where they can visit to feel the spirit of it.

"The books aren't full of black and white photos of bushrangers, though there are some. The photos show people what's there now. Hopefully it brings history more alive for people."

Mr Powell is due to present a talk at the Scone Literary Festival on Saturday, March 14.

Mr Powell will be one of four speakers to present on the topic of crime, bushrangers, rural life and crime in the Australian bush at Court House Theatre from 1.30pm.

Bushranger Tracks II is published by New Holland. It is available from online book sellers and select book shops in the Hunter.