Convict Constables

Yesterday we visited the Justice and Police Museum at Circular Quay in Sydney.

Two items of interest were a "Convict Constable's Rattle" (above left) and a "Convict Constable's Lamp" (above right) from the early 1800's.

What then was a "Convict Constable"?

Although the Colony of New South Wales was established as a penal settlement under military guard, little was planning was made for its civil policing. A Provost Marshal was appointed and the Governor was empowered to create constables.

In 1789, due to the lack of any available free men, Governor Phillip appointed twelve of the best behaved convicts to serve on the Night Watch which was the colony's first civilian police unit.

History Services NSW has 1190 records of convicts who subsequently became constables at some time in the Colony of New South Wales. One of the more celebrated being William (Billy) Blue, ferryman, of Blues Point.

"Billy Blue" arrived in Sydney on 14 December 1801 in the convict ship Minorca. Our records show that on 17 August 1811 he was appointed a water bailiff - "Watchman of the Heaving Down Place in Sydney Cove".

In 1814, he is recorded as being a "Constable of Sydney, on government stores".

On 17 November 1818, he was "dismissed as constable and Watchman of the Heaving Down Place in Sydney for improper conduct" on suspicion of smuggling.

"Billy Blue" continued to run his ferry services on Port Jackson and wasone of the colourful characters in the early days of the Colony.

If you are researching a convict ancestor, you should go to our website at:http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm

Convicts in Singapore

The Asian Civilizations Museum building in Singapore is strategically located on the waterfront near the mouth of the Singapore River. In its previous life as the Empress Palace Building, it was the home of the Government Offices from the colonial days.

We visited the Museum on a recent trip to Singapore and discovered that it was one of the last buildings in Singapore to be constructed using convict labour in the 1860's.

On researching this, we discovered that the British government transported Indian convicts to Singapore from 1826 to 1867. They were and employed in public works and contributed much towards the early development of Singapore - building roads and bridges and many old colonial buildings some of which are still standing such as the Asian Civilizations Museum building, the Istana and the St Andrew's Cathedral. They were stone cutters for the Horsburgh and Raffles Lighthouses and labourers for construction work in early Singapore's defence works.

So another piece of the jigsaw of the history of British penal system has fallen into place.

If you are interested in researching convicts who were transported to Australia, you can go to the

website:http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm

Initials in History

It is a time honoured thing that you carve your initials on a rock if you visit a new place, leaving your mark to say "I was here".

When we visited Garden Island in Sydney recently, we found some such initials on a sandstone outcrop that are thought to have been carved in 1788 by some First Fleet colonists from HMS Sirius.

Crew members from the Sirius first planted a vegetable garden in January 1788 on the small island in Sydney Harbour which was thus named Garden Island.

The initials read "F M ", "I R" and "W B" and are all dated 1788. Much research has been done to ascertain to whom the initials belonged.

It is thought that "F M" was Frederick Meredith an able seaman on the Sirius. He was one of three persons on the First Fleet to have the initials "F M" and was the only one on the Sirius .

The Initials "W B" account for 26 known persons on the First Fleet. Four of these - First Lieutenant William Bradley; William Beard, able seaman; Walter Brodie, Master blacksmith; and William Bryant , master's mate) were crew of the Sirius.

The "I R" initials are a bit more of a problem. The only person on the First Fleet with these initials was a convict woman , Isabella Rosson, who was transported for seven years for stealing two shillings worth of clothing. It is not likely that she would have been on Garden Island. [History Services NSW records that Rosson had arrived on the Lady Penrhyn and had delivered a baby girl on the ship].

It is likely that the letter "I" should be read as a "J". This would open up more possibilities. There were two crewman on the Sirius - John Rowley, able seaman; and James Russell, armour's mate/able seaman.

We found this a really exciting piece of history as it establishes a first tangible link to real people of the First Fleet.

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If you are in interested in early Australian History or are researching a convict ancestor go to our website at:

http://www.historyservices.com.au/

Parramatta Female Factory Precinct

Exterior and Interior of of Building 105

Yesterday I attended a meeting of the Female Factory Precinct Action Group.

This is a community group that aims to have the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct returned to the people of Australia.

It was formed in response to the December 2010 proposal by the South West Area Health Service to seek approval for alterations to Building 105 in the Cumberland Hospital complex to install IT equipment, condensers and cooling fans.

This building is the 1823 convict Female Factory 3rd class penitentiary sleeping quarters and is part of the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct.

The aim of the Action Group is to gather at least 5000 petition entries so that there is a least one for each woman who went through the Parramatta Female Factory.

If you would like to sign the petition go to:

http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savethefemalefactory

If you are in interested in early Australian History or are researching a convict ancestor go to our website at:

http://www.historyservices.com.au/

Como Pleasure Grounds

On Saturday we had occasion to visit the Como Pleasure Grounds with an old photo in hand.

Como is a suburb in southern Sydney located some 27 kilometres south of the central business district in the Sutherland Shire.

It was named by one James Murphy in1888 because the scenery reminded him of Lake Como In Italy.

The Como Pleasure Grounds were established in 1895 to celebrate the rail line reaching southern Sydney. They provided entertainment to visitors who came in their droves by steam train.

The old photos is dated to the 1920's and shows my grandparents who obviously enjoyed a day's outing at Como.

I endeavored to match up the original site for the photograph as it now exists almost a century later. The Pleasure Grounds are still a perfect place for a picnic celebration or birthday party overlooking the beautiful Georges River.

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If you are in interested in early Australian History or are researching a convict ancestor go to our website at:

http://www.historyservices.com.au/

Depression Era Housing on Sydney Harbour.

Today we went on a very pleasant bush walk in the Balls Head Reserve at Waverton. This sandstone headland in Sydney Harbour has panoramic views across to the Sydney CBD and Barangaroo; Goat island, Mort Bay, Birchgrove and Balmain; and on the eastern side to North Sydney and McMahons Point.

There are several walking tracks, including the Middens Walk, and it is easy to forget that this very peaceful place is just some 1.5 kilometres from the heart of the City.

One point of interest is the various caves such as Tom's Cabin that we came across. During the Depression years, people came to live in the caves and shelters on the headland. To provide income, they cut timber to sell for firewood and clothes props. By 1931, most of the trees across the top of Balls Head were gone.

Toms Cabin (above left)

After the Depression, a Beautification Scheme was organised and due to the cooperative efforts of residents, naturalists and forest league groups in conjunction with North Sydney Council, some 2350 trees had been planted in 17 annual tree planing days up to 1948.

Bush regeneration began again in 1979 and Balls Head is now managed as a bushland reserve. It is an important refuge and habitat for wildlife including possums, bats, gheckos, blue-tongued lizards and many species of birds.

I couldn't resist a little history:

• Balls Head is originally home of the Cammeraygal people;
• It is named after Lieutenant Lidgbird Ball who was the Commander of HMS Supply of the First Fleet.
• In 1825, Edward Wollstonecraft received a land grant of 212 hectares from Crows Nest down to the Harbour and including Berry Island and Balls Head.

Edward Wollstonecraft and his brother-in-law and business partner, Alexander Berry were significant landowners in the early days of New South Wales.

History Services NSW has some 447 records of convicts assigned to Wollstonecraft and Berry.

If you are researching a convict ancestor , you should go to our website at:http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm

The Towrang Stockade

The Towrang Convict Stockade was the chief convict camp in the southern district of the New South Wales Colony from about 1833 to 1843. The Stockade site is located next to the Hume Highway, twelve kilometres north of Goulburn, New South Wales.

The convicts housed here were engaged in the construction of the Great South Road from Sydney to Goulburn under the Surveyor General, Sit Thomas Mitchell.

At all times there were approximatey two hundred and fifty convicts at Towrang. Harsh discipline was imposed. Convicts slept on bare boards with a blanket each and ten men to a cell.

We visited the site of the Stockade on a trip to Canberra earlier this year.

On the southern side of the Highway, near the Rest Area, we found the Towrang Bridge and six stone culverts which have not been affected by modern day roadworks to the main highway.

The keystone of the Towrang Bridge reads 1839. Many consider the bridge was designed by David Lennox, who was responsible for Prospect Bridge and the Lapstone Bridge in the Blue Mountains.

On the northern side of the highway is the actual site of the Stockade. This is truly fascinating to explore although it involved a trek through some very grass.

The remains here include:

1) Powder Magazine situated on the bank of the Wollondilly River. It is thought that the Magazine was used to store the blasting powder used on the road construction.

2) Rubble Heaps of the Stockade Buildings. The soldier’s quarters and convict huts were of wood and stone construction. The Stockade buildings were laid out in the form of a hollow square on a ridge running down to the Powder Magazine. Another row of huts was located closer to the river where there still remain a row of heaps of rubble. Another row of huts was located on the upper side of the main quadrangle.

3) Weir built for the stockade.

4) Cemetery. Only three headstones remain in the cemetery across Towrang Creek from the Stockade, where both soldiers and convicts were buried. The inscription on one headstone reads:

'Sacred to the Memory of John Moxey, Private Soldier 80^th who departed this life 16 November 1838, aged 38 years, 22 years service. Remember me as you pass by as you are now so once was I, as I am now so you must be, prepare for death follow me. This stone was erected by his comrades as a token of respect towards a good and deserving soldier’.

Another headstone is to the memory of Elizabeth Weiticker, died June 9^th, 1841, aged 33 years and the third is to Mary Brown, died 25^th June, 1841, aged 4 years and 1 month.

A sign at the Cemetery site states that the following three persons may be also buried here:

"James Fielder – By the Guildford buried 17 February 1839, and

Monks – By the Lancashire, buried 15 February 1839, who were killed by blast exploding.

John Feagon [Fagan] – By the Minerva, buried 27 August 1840.

Other convicts are recorded as dying at the Convict hospital, Goulburn and by drowning (probably here in the Wollondilly River)."

James Fielder and John Fagan were both convicts.

History Services NSW has records on 32 convicts assigned to the Towrang (Tourang) Stockade.

The record for James Fielder (per Guildford 1824), coachman from Sussex England, reads:

• on arrival assigned to John Brabyn Esq;
• 1825 - government servant with Andrew Johnston, Wilberforce;
• 1828 - at Moreton Bay (3 year sentence);
• 1832 - absconded from Hyde Park Barracks - apprehended;
• 1833 - absconded from Parramatta Barracks since 16/6/1833;
• 1837 - with William Coghill, Berrima , aged 39 years;
• 1837 - absconded from W Coghill Bong Bong since 20/4/1837;
• 1837 - absconded from W Coghill, New Wick, Newcastle since 4/9/1837 - apprehended;
• 1839 - died at Tourang Stockade on 17 /12/1839.

If you are researching a convict ancestor who was assigned to the Towrang Stockade you should go to our website at:http://www.historyservices.com.au/convicts.htm