He moved to Queensland with his mistress, Mrs. Kate Brown. Kate was the sister of Ben Hall's wife. Together they opened a small shop and hotel at Apis Creek near Rockhampton. After Kate wrote a letter to her family the police found out where they were living. The police were able to find Gardiner and arrested him in February 1864. In court the jury decided he had not tried to kill police Sergeant Middleton, but that he was a robber. The judge, (Sir) Alfred Stephen, sent him to gaol for 32 years. There is a folk song called "Frank Gardiner". The first line is ""Oh, Frank Gardiner he is caught at last he lies in Sydney jail."" Kate Brown went to the Thames goldfields in New Zealand where she killed herself in 1868.