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Browse by convict Surname

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Browse convicts by their surname. Select the first letter of the surname below to get started. Just enter the name of the person you are searching for. If you prefer, try searching this website with a Google search.

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Relations between Aborigines and colonists

Myths in History
Fabrications for politics

Massacres
Should they be defined as part of a war?

Black Woman and White Man
Rape or love?

Myall Creek Masscare
Causes and consequences of colonial violence

The Stolen Generations
It's not so black and white

Jimmy Govenor
Not a good fence builder

Mary Anne Bugg
Female Bushranger

Pelmuwuy
Justice or resistance?

1967 referendum
The myths

Racism
Contemporary racism against Indigenous People

Convicts and their legacy

Regrets and floggings Convict legacy

Convict life

Convict crimes
Power and morality
How the past shapes the present

Convict punishments
What purpose?

Larrikin Convicts
Breaking rules

Escapes
Thinking different

Convict women
Moral diversity

Thinking outside the square seemed to be a defining feature of the Convict mind. Such thinking was clearly on display when a Convict tried to escape Port Arthur by disguising himself as a kangaroo. In hindsight, it wasn't a clever idea as the guards saw the kangaroo and used it as target practice. Novel thinking was also on display when catholic Convicts worked out a form of suicide that would not only get them around god's laws, but would also win their mates a holiday in the big smoke.

The getaway washing tub

While being transported to Australia in 1843, a Convict secretly stowed himself away in the hold of the Maitland. He had planned to arrive in Sydney unsuspected and then assume the role of a free settler.

Having been missed, it was presumed he had just fallen over board and drowned. Six weeks after his disappearance, the captain suspected his champagne stores had been tampered with. During a search to ascertain whether there was a hidden entrance to the stores, the lost Convict was discovered.

Later, the man was transported to Tasmania and again he made a dash for freedom. He was last seen paddling across the ocean in a stolen washing tub.

Kangaroos and Convicts

To escape from Port Arthur, Convicts had to pass across a narrow isthmus known as the Neck. This was guarded heavily by ferocious dogs and surveyed by stationed military personnel. A Convict named Billy Hunt disguised himself as a kangaroo in the hope making it through the Neck. The plan was working brilliantly until one of troopers decided to use the kangaroo as target practice. Billy was then forced to reveal his true identity.

China or bust

A group of Convicts got the idea that China was across some river just north of Sydney. Comforted by this knowledge, 20 male Convicts and a pregnant female set off on foot to build a new life in China. One died of exhaustion, four were speared by Aborigines and the remainders stumbled back into Sydney a week later.

Finding the loopholes in God's laws

Life in Coal river (Newcastle) and Macquarie Harbour (Tasmania) was hell on earth and many Convicts felt that death was their only hope of escape. Unfortunately, many of the Irish Convicts were catholic and feared that suicide (an unforgivable sin) would send them to an eternal hell. To solve this dilemma, they devised a plan based on teamwork. Four Convicts would draw straws; one to be murdered, one to be the murderer and two to act as witnesses at the murder trial so as to ensure a conviction. The plan was win win all round. The victim would escape life without fear of going to hell. The murderer would be executed and also escape life. As for the witnesses, they would have to testify at a trial in either Sydney or Hobart and thus have a holiday.

Escape from Cockatoo Island

In October 1861, Frederick Ward was arrested for horse theft and imprisoned on Cockatoo Island. The Island was said to be impossible to escape from as the men were chained and the harbour was inhabited by man eating sharks! Despite the danger, Ward's girlfriend, Mary-Anne Bugg, swam to the island with a file for Ward to cut through his chains. After freeing himself, Ward swam to Balmain and with Mary, moved to the Hunter Valley.

Unfit to be executed

Daniel Gordon was a Convict of African heritage. In February 1788 he was tried for robbing the public store and condemned to death. He was later pardoned on the King's birthday in June. In August 1789, he was again caught stealing and was expected to be sentenced to death. However, as he appeared 'wild and incoherent' in court, his trial was postponed until the following day. When his condition failed to improve, the judge placed him in the care of surgeons as unfit for trial. It is hard to know whether judge believed Daniel was insane or was just entertained by Daniel's colourful antics. As for Daniel's fellow Convicts, they were in no doubt. It was said that they " gave him credit for the ability he had acted his part and perhaps he deserved their applause."Daniel died 39 years later, aged 81.

A leisurely row from Sydney to Timor

Mary Bryant escaped in the Governor's six oar cutter with her husband, baby son, three year old daughter and five other Convicts. They then rowed to Timor, (5000 Kilometres from Sydney) navigating the uncharted Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Strait. Upon arrival in Timor, they claimed to be ship wreck victims but were soon identified as Convicts and sent back to England for trial. On the return journey, Mary's husband and son died of fever. Sadly for Australia, the English press found her tale of perseverance quite stirring and so rather than transport her once more, she was freed into the community where she no doubt strengthened the gene pool that had been weakened by the loss of Convicts.

A jail bird flies away

A Eora warrior named Pemulwuy was felled with seven bullets and taken to a Parramatta hospital. He lapsed in and out of consciousness for many days and his death was thought to be a certainty. Amazingly, Pemulwuy recovered and several weeks later, he somehow escaped into the darkness; his leg-irons still in place. According to the Eora people, his impossible escape was achieved by turning himself into a bird.

Alexander the cannibal

Alexander Pearce was transported to Sarah Island in 1822. A month later, he escaped with Thomas Bodenham, Robert Greenhill, Matthew Travis and John Mather. The party headed overland to Hobart. After 15 days without food, they decided to experiment with cannibalism. The men drew straws and it was Thomas Bodenham who drew the short one. He knelt down, was killed by a blow to the head and subsequently served up for lunch. A week later, John Mather was foraging for roots when a hungry Greenhill crept up behind him, and swung at him with an axe. At that very moment, Mather moved and the axe glanced off his head. The two men wrestled and Mather seized control. However his good fortune didn't last long. Determined to eat him, the other three ganged up and killed him. Four days later, Travis was bitten by a snake. Six days later, he too was on the menu. This left only Pearce and Greenhill. For a few days, each eyed the other suspiciously but vowed not to betray the other. Pearce thought Greenhill was lying and so killed him in the dead of night. Out of character for Pearce, he left the body untouched.

In 1823, Pearce was recaptured and confessed to his crimes. Such was the fanciful nature of his story, no one believed him and so he was sent back to Sarah Island. Nine months later, he again escaped and for provisions, he took with him Thomas Cox.

A few weeks after escaping, a crew of a passing ship saw smoke and Pearce was found. He again confessed to his crimes and even had a morsel of Cox to verify his story. Pearce was taken back to Hobart and hanged on the 19th July 1824. The judge at his trial declaring that the case was 'too inhuman to comment on'.

Exported to Japan

A group of Convicts stole the Cyprus, a supply vessel carrying a group of Convicts to Macquarie Harbour. They dumped the officers and crew on shore and sailed off to Japan where they pretended to be shipwrecked British mariners. They were sent back to Britain as shipwrecked sailors. Unfortunately one of them was strolling through London town when he met an ex-police constable from Hobart town who recognised his tattoos.

The white aborigine

William Buckley escaped from the Sorrento settlement in 1803. The settlement was then disbanded and with nothing heard of Buckley, it was presumed that he had starved to death or been killed by Aborigines. 33 year later, a farmer came upon a strange white man speaking an aboriginal language. He had a extremely long beard and wore possum skins. Once the man learnt to speak English again, he informed the authorities that he was William Buckley and had spent 33 years living with the Aborigines. He was pardoned and became a respected civil servant. His story inspired the saying 'Buckley's Chance'.

With a little help from friends.

John O'Reilly wanted to annoy the English and so he hatched a plan to rescue Irish Convicts from Western Australia. For his plan, he organised for an American boat, the Catalpa, to sail to Western Australia to rescue Convicts. On March 29, 1876 the Catalpa arrived off Western Australia. Six Irish Convicts made a dash for freedom by running into the bush where they were picked up in wagons, rode to the whaleboats and then on to the ship. A number of people witnessed the escape and reported it to the authorities. However such is the nature of grapevine communication, by the time word reached Perth, the story was not Convicts escaping, but the Irish invading.

Western Australia went into war mood. Troopers were dispatched to dig trenches and the gunboat Georgette steamed out to sea to courageously confront the invading Irish fleet. But the only ship found was the Catalpa. Numerous shots were fired across its bow which brought every Irishman onto the deck. There, armed with everything from a whaling lance to meat knife, they started chanting "death, but no surrender."

The Geogettes's captain demanded to know if any Convicts were on board. The Catalpa's captain said no and that as an American ship outside territorial waters, he would not submit to a search. The Geogette then turned back to port while the Catalpa continued on its way to America. When it eventually arrived, O'Rielly took to the public speaking circuit where he gave a popular lecture on how he had made the English look like buffoons.

Enthusiasm for work

After the official closure of the penal settlement on Sarah Island, twelve Convicts, under the supervision of several soldiers and Master Shipwright David Hoy, remained behind to complete the fitting out of the brig, Frederick. Although the specific orders concerning the fit-out had been mysteriously mislaid, the men dutifully carried out their tasks with 'great propriety, executing Mr. Hoys' orders with promptitude and alacrity'. The Frederick was launched in January 1834 and ten of the Convicts celebrated the occasion by seizing control. They sailed it to New Zealand and then onto South America. It was abandoned off coast of Chile and the Convicts rowed the ship's whaleboat the remaining 80 km to shore.

Passing themselves off as shipwrecked sailors, they assumed positions as shipwrights and became respected members of the community. Several married local women, while six of the men made a further escape to America and Jamaica.

The four who remained in Chile were eventually caught and brought back to Hobart for trial as pirates. As the boat was seized from the harbour rather than the high seas, they escaped the charge but had to live out their days on Norfolk Island.

Rebellion

John Caesare
The first

Our Ned Kelly
A story heard and considered

Eureka Massacre
Dying for liberty
Post Convicts
Federation
Why is it not celebrated?

White Australia Policy
From Convicts to Chinese

Gallipoli
Baptism of Fire or Well of Tears

Simpson and his Donkey
A larrikin and a hero

Nancy Wake
A larrikin and a hero

The Depression
Australia's Greek Moment

World War 2
The eastern chapters

Cold War
The expression of transnational identities

Prime Ministers
Values and policies of Australian leaders

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Relations between Aborigines and colonists Myths in History Fabrications for politics Massacres Should they be defined as part of a war? Black Woman and White Man Rape or love? Myall Creek Masscare Causes and consequences of colonial violence The Stolen Generations It's not so black and white Jimmy Govenor Not a good fence builder Mary Anne Bugg Female Bushranger Pelmuwuy Justice or resistance?

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The child of a Worimi woman and a convict, Mary Ann Bugg spent her life straddling two cultures. In 1860 she met Fred Ward, also known as the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, and they ran off together. Given her bushcraft, he was really more her sidekick than the other way around.

Presented by Miranda Tapsell ( The Sapphires, Lovechild).

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Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Maid Marian just wore a cool costume.

We're so comfortable with rogue men who cause havoc here and there, working class heroes who outwit the establishment with bravery and Errol Flynn charm.

We're not sure what to do with the same sort of swashbuckling heroes when they're women, though. Ratbag women, we'll call them: they're brave, they're bad and they don't conform to any notion of standard femininity.

It becomes even harder when the woman in question is Indigenous.

Mary Ann Bugg's story, though, is the stuff of legend. Mary Ann was a proud Worimi woman, born of an Indigenous mother and convict father near Gloucester in NSW.

She learned to read, write and pray to God at the Parramatta Orphan School. She married young, was widowed young and was living near Mudgee when she met Fred Ward, who became known as Captain Thunderbolt. She fell in love with him.

They were newlyweds when Fred was charged with horse stealing and sent to Sydney's Cockatoo Island. Mary Ann swam across the harbour to rescue him with a file between her teeth-or so the story goes. He escaped back up north, and when the couple were reunited they began their life on the lam.

Mary Ann's bushcraft helped Thunderbolt stay ahead of the law; she was his spy, heading into town to inquire about troop movements and coach routes. She saved his life, and kept saving his life. She warned him off when the troopers came, killed their food and collected their bush tucker.

We rarely hear about it, but there was a complex relationship between Indigenous women and white settlers. Mary Ann was part of that. In convict settlements along the frontier, Aboriginal women were often the ambassadors of their people, finding ways to keep their people safe, making inroads into white culture.

While we shouldn't forget the terrible way many of these women were treated, we shouldn't forget their agency and power, either.

If you're up in Thunderbolt country, the Hunter Region of NSW, remember Mary Ann Bugg: a proud Worimi woman who turned everyone's expectations upside down.
The stuff of legends, there are many conflicting accounts of Mary Ann's life. We found Kali Bieren's fascinating thesis 'The Captain's Lady' very useful and enlightening. You might also want to read 'Captain Thunderbolt and his Lady' by Carol Baxter for an alternative version of events.

Six Australian women revealed. Read all their stories.

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The child of a Worimi woman and a convict, Mary Ann Bugg spent her life straddling two cultures. In 1860 she met Fred Ward, also known as the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, and they ran off together. Given her bushcraft, he was really more her sidekick than the other way around.

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John Kelly father of Ned Kelly.

Convict John Kelly was transport, to Australia on the 31st July 1841 when he was placed on board the convict ship 'The Prince Regent' in the port of Dublin, arriving in the Derwent River, Van Diemens Land, on 2nd January 1842. He was granted his ticket of leave on 11th July 1845 and headed to Melbourne and he headed inland along the old Sydney road and worked as a carpenter around Donnybrook and Kilmore, an area with many Irish settlers. In 1850 he met Ellen Quinn, who had come out from Ballymena, County Antrim, with her family as a young girl. They were married on 18th November 1850 in St. Francis's Church, Melbourne by Fr. Gerald Ward. For the next fourteen years or so John Kelly made a living from horse dealing, dairy farming and even some gold mining. During this time seven children were born, including Edward, who subsequently became the famed 'Ned Kelly'. John and Ellen Kelly bought and sold a number of farms around the township of Beveridge, but their fortunes seem to have been declining over time. In 1864 John Kelly sold his farm for £80 and headed further inland with his family, and they rented 40 acres near Avenel, Victoria. The Kelly family was very poor at this stage and the drought of 1865 made things even worse. In 1865 John Kelly was charged with stealing a calf from a Mr. Morgan and on 29th May 1865 he was in Court for this offence. The charge of cattle stealing was dismissed, but the charges of "unlawful possession of a hide" was upheld and he was fined £25 or 6 months in Gaol. He seems to have served 4 months in gaol because on 3rd October 1865 John Kelly himself registered his eight and last child, Grace, in Campions store in Avenel. In the birth register he lists his home area as "Moyglass, Co. Tipperary, Ireland" and his age as "45". It is this entry, signed by John Kelly himself that confirms that he and the John Kelly baptised on 20th February 1820 in Moyglass are one and the same person. John Kelly's health was breaking down and he got seriously ill in November 1866. A Doctor Healey, came from Seymour one week before Christmas of that year, but John Kelly was dying of Dropsy for which there was no cure. John Kelly died on 27th December 1866, aged 46 years. His death was reported and signed by his son Edward Kelly who was not yet 12 years of age at this time. John Kelly was buried in an unmarked grave in Avenel Cemetery, Victoria, on 29th December 1866.

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Convict John Kelly - Twisted History | Limelight Tours

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John Kelly father of Ned Kelly. Convict John Kelly was transport, to Australia on the 31st July 1841 when he was placed on board the convict ship 'The Prince Regent' in the port of Dublin, arriving in the Derwent River, Van Diemens Land, on 2nd January 1842.

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MARY was no stranger to starvation.

Time and again, the little community of Botany Bay was faced with indescribable hardships, but the hunger was no doubt the hardest of all.

It was 1791, and Mary Bryant, who had arrived to the fledgling country Australia with the First Fleet on 10 May, 1788 on board the vessel, Charlotte, was almost ready to make her big escape.

Along with her husband, William, and her children, Charlotte and Emmanuel, Mary would make one of the most daring escapes in history, dubbed by biographer Judith Cook as one of the most incredible voyages ever made in an open boat.

The Associated Press described it as a "remarkable feat of endurance and seamanship".

And it all began here.

For early European settlers, life proved painful in this far away country. The First Fleet had carried enough food for 18 months and thought they could grow produce quickly, but the colony almost starved.

The soil did not return half the quantity of grain which had been sown. The cattle had been destroyed by war with the indigenous community. with famine the ultimate consequence.

Cabbage trees and turnips were almost the only things that would grow here in the early days.

Fish were scarce and young kangaroos were almost the only fresh meat the early settlers could procure - and even these, very seldom.

Between 1787 and 1868, more than 165,000 convicts were transported from Britain to Australia. Most never returned.

Born in Cornwall, in England's South West, Mary was convicted of the robbery and assault of Agnes Lakeman in Plymouth, for stealing a silk bonnet. She was sentenced to hang on March 20, 1786, but by a stroke of luck, she was sent to Australia aboard the First Fleet to serve out her sentence. She left England on May 13, 1787 at the age of 21.

She met William Bryant, a convicted smuggler, before boarding the Charlotte. William, who was convicted to death, was subsequently sent aboard the same boat as Mary. Mary gave birth to her daughter, named after the ship they sailed on, during the arduous 12-month journey. The couple's son Emmanuel was born three years later in Sydney in May, 1790.

Mary and William were married days after arriving in Australia in the new colony's first wedding ceremony.

For the first year, the family were relatively happy - William's skills as a fisherman had put the family in a rare position of power. But then rations began to evaporate and the colony was going hungry. Although the arrival of the Second Fleet was a welcome recompense, the long term prospects for Australia looked bleak. They couldn't continue to starve and live on such little supplies. They decided escape was their only option.

When the Dutch ship, Waaksamheyd, sailed into the colony in December, 1790, the couple befriended the captain, Detmer Smith. Annoyed with Governor Phillip at the time, Smith supplied them the necessary provisions for escape: a compass, quadrant, a rough map, two muskets, ammunition and provisions like flour, rice and pork and 45 litres of water.

Their plan: To reach the Dutch East Indies, now known as Indonesia. It was a 5000km journey. In open sea. In a row boat.

The day after Waaksamheyd sailed out of Port Jackson, the Bryants saw their chance. With no ships left in the harbour to spot their daring escape, they knew that the time had come. It was now or never.

Along with seven other convicts, William and Mary, their three-year-old daughter and one-year-old son, sailed out of Sydney at 10pm on March 28, 1791 on a small boat they stole from Governor Phillip.

It would put them on the adventure of a lifetime. But not all would make it back.

The tiny boat navigated upwards towards the north east coast of Australia but William, Mary and their crew were unaware of what they were about to face; five weeks of continuous rain, storms and being blown out to sea without site of land. Constantly wet, conditions were crippling and the crew were terrified.

When they made it back to the coast towards Cape York in their leaking boat, they would attempt to land to find fresh food and water. Eventually, they would reach the Great Barrier Reef and through the Torres Strait, where they were chased by natives in canoes - and survived.

The canoes were "fitted with sails and fighting stages, and capable of holding thirty men each", according to British marine officer, Watkin Tench, who wrote two books about his experiences in the First Fleet.

On June 5, they landed at Kupang, in West Timor with all 11 passengers still alive.

There, they told Dutch governor Timotheus Wanjon that they were shipwreck survivors of an English boat which had sunk on the Great Barrier Reef on the way to New South Wales.

At first the residents of Kupang believed their story but it wasn't long before news of their escape leaked - allegedly a drunken William blabbed after too many beers - and they were sent back to England to face execution.

When Captain Edward Edwards and his crew arrived on the island after their ship, the HMS Pandora, sunk off the Barrier Reef, the race for freedom looked bleak.

With a new ship, the Rembang, the convicts were detained and Captain Edwards' reputation for treating his prisoners unkindly was well and truly upheld - they were put in chains and given enough food to ensure they didn't starve. Nothing more, nothing less.

When they reached Batavia, or Jakarta as it is known now, the Bryant family were severely ill.

Emmanuel died from fever on December 1, 1791. William died three weeks later, on December 22. Three more convicts who joined the journey would die soon after.

Charlotte died in May the next year on board the HMS Gorgon, on the final journey back to England. She was buried at sea.

"I confess that I never looked at these people without pity and astonishment. They had miscarried in a heroic struggle for liberty; after having combated every hardship and conquered every difficulty," Captain Watkin Tench, who sailed with the couple to Australia onboard the Charlotte, wrote of the Bryants.

Mary survived and made it to London in July, 1792 - more than five years since she left for Australia. Back in England, Mary and the four convicts with her became somewhat famous for their heroic journey home. Instead of facing the gallows, a well-known lawyer took up their case and Mary was granted a pardon in 1793 after a year in prison.

"The next day" says the record, "the gentleman returned with his carriage and took off the poor woman, who almost expired with the excess of gratitude."

Money donated by the public flowed in and Mary eventually moved back to Cornwall where there are signs she remarried but what happened to her afterwards, no one quite knows.
- Everyone has a story. Share yours - youngma@news.com.au

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This starving prisoner made the greatest of escapes

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MARY was no stranger to starvation. Time and again, the little community of Botany Bay was faced with indescribable hardships, but the hunger was no doubt the hardest of all. It was 1791, and Mary Bryant, who had arrived to the fledgling country Australia with the First Fleet on 10 May, 1788 on board the vessel, Charlotte, was almost ready to make her big escape.

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Francis Greenway (1777-1837), architect, was born at Mangotsfield, near Bristol, England, son of Francis Greenway and Ann, née Webb. The Greenways had been stonemasons, builders and architects in the west country for generations. Francis was in private practice as an architect in Bristol when in March 1812 he was found guilty of forging a document. He was sentenced to death but the penalty was later changed to transportation for fourteen years. He arrived in Sydney in February 1814 in the transport General Hewitt, and was followed in July by his wife Mary, whom he had married about 1804, and three children in the Broxbornebury.

Greenway was apparently allowed much freedom after his arrival for he began private practice immediately, with an office at 84 George Street, Sydney, declaring that he was open to commissions of all kinds. He was self-confident, temperamental and quick to take offence, but his artistic abilities were great and he had a full command of the techniques of his profession. Next year Governor Lachlan Macquarie called upon Greenway to report on the Rum Hospital then being built for the government. His criticism was devastating. The builders had to make costly alterations to the building and Greenway made the first of a long list of enemies who were to make his life difficult thereafter.

Greenway had been given a ticket-of-leave and during 1815 he occasionally advised the government on its public works. In March 1816 he was appointed civil architect and assistant engineer at a salary of 3s. a day, quarters for himself and family, a horse and forage. His first work for the government was the design of the lighthouse, known as the Macquarie Tower, on the south head of Port Jackson. The stonework of the building was finished in December 1817 and Macquarie was so pleased with it that he presented Greenway with conditional emancipation. Next November the lighthouse was completed, though it was later pulled down and the present replica was built in 1880.

When Greenway was called upon for a design for a new government house Macquarie left it entirely in his hands. He promptly designed a castle and began a stable block so grand that it was often mistaken for Government House itself. However, Macquarie was already in trouble with the Colonial Office over his building programme, and when the new extravagance became known in London the secretary of state forbade the castle. In the meantime Greenway was busy with the design of many other buildings, several of which remain and, despite their mutilated condition, are considered valuable gems of Early Australian Colonial architecture. By 1819 he had designed a large female factory at Parramatta and a large barracks and compound for male convicts in what is now Queen's Square, Sydney. Macquarie opened the barracks on 20 May with great ceremony and a special feast for the prisoners, and used the occasion to make Greenway's pardon absolute. In the 1990s the building was restored and converted into a museum. The great compound has been destroyed and lost except for vestiges which show here and there, reminders of the wanton ruin of Greenway's one example of planning in the grand manner.

In 1817 Greenway began St Matthew's Church, Windsor, probably his masterpiece. Later it suffered depressing alterations, but its large bulk of beautiful brick-work still compels admiration with its commanding position on rising ground overlooking the wide valley of the Hawkesbury River. St Luke's Church, Liverpool, was begun in 1818. The first builder, Nathaniel Lucas, died soon after the foundations were finished and James Smith took over the work. Although Greenway tactlessly quarrelled with each builder, and the building was later grossly mutilated and fell into disrepair, the quality of his design is still apparent. His third church, St James's, in King Street, Sydney, has also suffered from alteration and repair, but it was his most classical design and ranks among the finer Georgian buildings of its date. The difference between St Luke's designed for a rural setting and the metropolitan St James's is most marked and demonstrates the sense of the appropriate that distinguishes all Greenway's work.

The last building which Macquarie and Greenway supervised in their old spirit of amicability was the court-house at Windsor. Though only a minor building, it is beautifully restored and preserved, and is the nearest approach to a complete Greenway design that has survived.

1819 marked the turning point of Greenway's career. He was an important citizen but unfortunately his arrogance made him misjudge his authority. He made many enemies, and he now fell out with Macquarie. Commissioner John Thomas Bigge cancelled many of Greenway's projects as being too extravagant, and he interfered with others. Later he began to issue building directives to Greenway as though Governor Macquarie did not exist. In the tense atmosphere thus engendered Greenway acted with his usual lack of tact, sometimes siding with the governor, sometimes with Bigge, in the long series of quarrels which mar this period. Macquarie now referred to Greenway's dilatory habits, indolence and neglect of duty. The temperamental architect, not politically astute, was concerned only with the spoiling of his designs by the political manoeuvres that marked the disputes between Macquarie and Bigge. In his report Bigge commented favourably on Greenway's abilities and sought to put the blame for extravagant buildings on the governor rather than on the architect. The reverse was perhaps nearer the truth. Greenway's position became impossible when he suddenly presented a bill for £11,000 for fees for buildings he had designed for the government, as an employee of the government. For a salaried architect to present a bill for fees calculated at the rate of 5 per cent of building costs reveals a monumental capacity for effrontery.

Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane, Macquarie's successor, confirmed Greenway in his office, but sought to curb him by imposing restrictions on his activities. Greenway, whilst agreeing to them, paid only lip-service to the new conditions and persisted in his curious claim for fees. He continued to design buildings: the Supreme Court in King Street, a version of Liverpool Hospital (now the Technical College), and stores at Parramatta and a police office in York Street, Sydney (both demolished). However, now that he lacked Macquarie's patronage, public servants and builders paid less and less attention to Greenway: they altered his designs without telling him, the ultimate insult to any architect. Obviously his position was becoming untenable and he could not have been surprised when he was summarily dismissed from government service on 15 November 1822. He displayed his usual obstinacy when he refused to give up the house which was a perquisite of his former office. The government tried every legal means to oust him from the premises but he finally produced a document, since thought to be a forgery, which purported to give him title to the house. The government did not recover the property until after his death and then only by action in London.

In office, Greenway produced some of the finest colonial buildings Australia ever had but, with his awkward temperament, he could not have produced them alone. Macquarie's patronage and protection provided the atmosphere in which the architect could give rein to his genius, but only with vice-regal backing. Alone, his status soon crumbled away under the attacks of less competent men.

Macquarie had granted Greenway 800 acres (324 ha) on the right bank of the Hunter River, and the government felt that this requited all his claims, real or imaginary. Greenway maintained that he had been promised town land, 'building ground' and not pastoral acres. He never relinquished his claim for £11,000 in fees. Although his fortune was in a sorry state, his claims received little attention, for he had made many enemies inside as well as outside the service. He continued his private practice but his only considerable commission was to design for Robert Campbell a large house in Bligh Street, Sydney. This was a mansion with stables, barracks and appurtenances which lasted until 1880 when most of the group was pulled down to make way for the Union Club, which has now also been pulled down. Other small commissions came to Greenway's office, such as the tomb for the government printer, George Howe, various cottages and alterations to existing buildings, but generally speaking his professional life seemed to have ended with the completion of Campbell's house in 1828.

During this period his wife, Mary, opened a small school for young ladies in an attempt to aid the family fortunes. Described by Macquarie as 'pleasant and genteel', she was manifestly as self-effacing as a wife of the arrogant Francis Greenway would need to be. She bore him five sons and two daughters; one son, Charles, became an archdeacon and canon at Grafton Cathedral.

Greenway spent some of his time writing articles for the press. His reminiscences in the Australian Almanac of 1835 provide much information about his colonial life. In the same year he advertised professionally in such a way it was clear he was desperate for work, little of which came his way. In 1836 he tried to form a company to build and operate quays in Sydney Cove but this met with no success. Meanwhile, in a desultory fashion, he was farming his grant on the Hunter River but his land was, and still is, marshy and poor. In 1837 he died in the Hunter River valley and was buried in a small cemetery in a lonely paddock outside East Maitland. There is no tombstone or marker over his grave.

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Francis Greenway (1777-1837), architect, was born at Mangotsfield, near Bristol, England, son of Francis Greenway and Ann, née Webb. The Greenways had been stonemasons, builders and architects in the west country for generations. Francis was in private practice as an architect in Bristol when in March 1812 he was found guilty of forging a document.

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If you would like to read in detail about her life https://www.marywadefamily.org/items/show/5

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While today's children are thinking about Sugar Plum fairies and Santa Claus, the thoughts of ten year old Mary Wade must have been vastly different. At Christmastime in 1789, Mary was the youngest convict aboard a ship bound for Australia: one of two hundred and fifty or so women, half way to a strange land. Their female convict ship The Lady Juliana, part of the Second Fleet, had set sail from Portsmouth in July.

Months earlier Mary, (born in England in 1778), had been arrested and found guilty of stealing another child's clothes. Her death sentence, commuted to transportation for life, was bitter sweet. Mary had escaped the gallows but would never see her family again. She spent the spring of 1789 in horrendous conditions at Newgate Prison. Mary was one of fifty women fed bread and water in a cell that had neither beds nor lavatories. However, once aboard The Lady Juliana, her situation improved. All convicts were reasonably fed and given warm beds. Only five women and two children died during the eleven month voyage and the condition of those who arrived in the colony in 1790, had improved.

To relieve the pressure on Sydney Cove, Governor Phillip sent many new arrivals including Mary, to a place described by Captain Cook as, 'a Paradise' - Norfolk Island. There, at age fourteen, Mary gave birth to a daughter. She had two more children with emancipated Irish transportee, Teague Harrigan and by 1806, the family was living in a tent on the banks of the Tank stream in Sydney. Harrigan joined a whaling ship but never returned.

By 1809, Mary had married and set up home near the Hawkesbury River with convict Jonathan Brooker. Emancipated circa 1812, the pair took ownership of a thirty acre farm in Airds, Campbelltown and lived happily until Harrigan's death in 1833. Twenty six years later in 1859, eighty year old Mary died at home. She had given birth to twenty one children. In her lifetime, her family had grown to include five generations and over three hundred descendants. Now, Mary's descendants number in the tens of thousands, including Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia.

At Christmastime in 1789, ten year old convict Mary Wade was facing an uncertain future. Today, she is recognized as one of Australia's founding mothers.

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While today's children are thinking about Sugar Plum fairies and Santa Claus, the thoughts of ten year old Mary Wade must have been vastly different. At Christmastime in 1789, Mary was the youngest convict aboard a ship bound for Australia: one of two hundred and fifty or so women, half way to a strange land.

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After convict William Buckley's escape from a Victorian settlement he was discov...

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Blue, William (Billy) (1767-1834)

by Margaret Park

This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Supplementary Volume, (MUP), 2005

William (Billy) Blue (c.1767?-1834), convict, settler and ferryman, was born possibly in Jamaica, New York City. As he later claimed to have served with the British army in the American war of independence, he may have been a freed African-American slave from colonial New York. By 1796, however, he was living at Deptford, London, and working as a chocolate-maker and a lumper (labourer) in ships in the River Thames. On 4 October that year at Maidstone, Kent, Blue was convicted of stealing raw sugar-presumably intended for confectionery making-and sentenced to seven years transportation. After over four years in convict hulks, he was transported to Botany Bay in the Minorca. He was described in convict records as 'a Jamaican Negro sailor', aged 29 in 1796.

Reaching Sydney on 14 December 1801, Blue had less than two years of his sentence to serve. By July 1804 he was living at The Rocks with Elizabeth Williams, a 30-year-old, English-born convict, who had arrived from Hampshire the previous month. They married on 27 April 1805 at St Philip's Church of England and were to have six children. Billy worked as a waterman and collected and sold oysters and other items. He found favour with both government officials and the public, to whom he endeared himself with his whimsical style and banter.

In 1808 his name was included in a list of citizens who supported the arrest of Governor Bligh. Blue was appointed harbour watchman and constable by Governor Macquarie in 1811. These titles enabled him to acquire a new home overlooking Sydney Harbour, which became a local landmark known as 'Billy Blue's Cottage'. Macquarie was a regular user of the ferry services; he reported in his diary in 1817 that his wife and son were taken up the river to Parramatta in Blue's boat. That year Blue was granted a farm of eighty acres (32.4 ha), which he called Northampton, at the southernmost tip of the north shore of Port Jackson. The headland became known as Billy Blue's Point. As a landowner on the north side of the harbour, he saw the potential for operating a boat service to the site and quickly built up a 'fleet of ferries'. Macquarie light-heartedly dubbed him 'Commodore'; Blue became known as 'The Old Commodore'.

The location and business offered opportunities to participate in smuggling. In October 1818, arrested for possessing two casks of rum, he claimed that he had found them floating and lashed them to his boat to return them to the shore. Encouraged by Deputy-Judge-Advocate Wylde to plead guilty and name his accomplices, Blue refused, lost his position as harbour watchman and constable and was imprisoned for a year.

In 1823 Edward Wollstonecraft and William Gore, both landholders on the north shore with vested interests in harbour trade, attempted to oust Blue from his land and ferrying service, alleging that he was a law-breaker who regularly smuggled goods and harboured escaped prisoners. In response Blue petitioned Sir Thomas Brisbane that, in view of his long and trusted service for the government, he should be granted 'in his old age the peaceable enjoyment of his premises and ferry'. The governor found in his favour, authorizing him to 'have the Use and Occupation of his ferry, which he formerly occupied between his farm in Northampton and Sydney'.

Elizabeth died in 1824. In the 1828 census Blue gave his age as 80. Described by (Sir) James Dowling as 'an eccentric, loquacious character', he took to donning a travesty of a naval uniform, with a top hat, and would board newly berthed vessels as 'commodore' to welcome the officers to Sydney. Brushes with the law continued. He was found guilty of harbouring an escaped convict and of manslaughter-when he threw a stone at a boy who was tormenting him and the youth later died-but avoided prison. By 1833 he and his family were reported as keeping a ferryboat and cultivating vegetables and fruit for the Sydney market.

Blue died on 7 May 1834 at his North Sydney home. His will, which he signed with a mark, left his property to his surviving three sons, including William junior, and two daughters. Streets in North Sydney were named after him and the site of his northern ferry terminus remained known as Blues Point. The Mitchell Library, Sydney, holds several portraits of him, including an etching by Charles Rodius, a lithograph of 'The Old Commodore' by John Carmichael and an oil painting by J. B. East.

Select Bibliography

M. Swords, Billy Blue, the Old Commodore (Syd, 1979)

I. Duffield and J. Bradley, Representing Convicts (Lond, 1997)

History Today, Feb 1987, p 43

Journal of Popular Culture, 33, no 1, Summer 1999, p 7

Sydney Gazette, 2 Aug 1807, p 2, 31 Oct 1833, 10 May 1834, p 2

W. Blue petition (State Library of New South Wales)

research notes (Stanton Library, North Sydney).

Additional Resources

Trove search

an inquest finds that Thomas Cox, 14, died after being hit by a stone thrown by Billy Blue, Sydney Gazette, 27 May 1824, p 2

editorial retracting the accusation that Billy Blue threw the stone that killed Thomas Cox, Sydney Gazette, 10 June 1824, p 2

article about a walking tour of Sydney; Billy Blue is listed as one of the 'sights', Australian (Sydney), 24 February 1829, p 3

John Piman pays Billy Blue's fine for harbouring a prisoner, Sydney Monitor, 3 August 1829, p 4

is fined $26 for harbouring a prisoner in his house, Sydney Gazette, 18 September 1830, p 3

an officer threatens to have Billy Blue arrested if he addresses him in the street again, Sydney Monitor, 1 December 1830, p 4, column 4

Blue acted as prosecutor in a case brought by James Howey against John Nowlan for stealing his boot, Sydney Gazette, 23 July 1831, p 3

Mr Carmichael is creating an etching of Billy Blue, Sydney Herald, 8 April 1833, p 2

letter to the editor complaining about Billy Blue's haranguing of passers-by in the street, Sydney Gazette, 31 October 1833, p 3

J. B. East's portrait of Blue is on view at Cumming's Old Hotel, Macquarie Place, Sydney, Australian (Sydney), 9 May 1834, p 3, column 2

has been haranguing passers-by in the street for the last 20 years, Sydney Gazette, 10 May 1834, p 2

Charles Rodius has completed an excellent likeness of Billy Blue, Sydney Gazette, 26 July 1834, p 2

Mr Carmichael's etching of Billy Blue is a very good likeness, Sydney Gazette, 16 September 1834, p 2, column 3

a book about Billy Blue, including his portrait and a drawing of his house, is to be published soon, Sydney Gazette, 21 April 1835, p 3, column 2

had been verger at St Philip's Old Church, Sydney, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 November 1900, p 8

the Old Commodore Hotel, named after Billy Blue, is to be demolished, Australian Town and Country Journal, 19 October 1901, p 41

article about Billy Blue, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 March 1932, p 22s

article about Billy Blue, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 May 1947, p 9

article about Billy Blue, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 March 1951, p 11

Related Entries in NCB Sites

Citation details

Margaret Park, 'Blue, William (Billy) (1767-1834)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/blue-william-billy-12804/text23109, published first in hardcopy 2005, accessed online 28 October 2019.

This article has been amended since its original publication. View Original
This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Supplementary Volume, (MUP), 2005
View the front pages for the Supplementary Volume

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by Margaret Park This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography , Supplementary Volume, (MUP), 2005 William (Billy) Blue (c.1767?-1834), convict, settler and ferryman, was born possibly in Jamaica, New York City. As he later claimed to have served with the British army in the American war of independence, he may have been a freed African-American slave from colonial New York.

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