Spicer’s Diary is the name given to the Book of Monthly Returns of Prisoners Maintained at Moreton Bay. Peter Spicer was Superintendent of Convicts from 23 August 1826 – 8 May 1839. The diary records the number of prisoners assigned to every form of work in the Colony, from clerical workers to bullock drivers. There is a section called Remarks, which contains rations issued, absconders, arrivals and deaths.
Between 1828 and 1831, poor Spicer (or his clerk), was forced to record in the Remarks some very unfortunate goings-on in Moreton Bay. As if it wasn’t enough that the settlement had suffered drought, dysentery and the almost constant absconding, he also had to record the horrific murders committed by desperate convicts.
Moreton Bay was then under the command of Captain Patrick Logan, a famously harsh disciplinarian, and it appears that the convict unrest eased considerably when Logan died in 1830. (Logan himself was murdered, it is believed by indigenous people, during an expedition to Mt Beppo in October 1830.)
The press reports of the trials, and subsequent executions, for these murders state that no clear motive was given for any of the killings. A common thread appears to be plans to abscond, or alternatively, to be sent to Sydney for a trial. Through the coverage of the trials, it was the first time the conditions at Moreton Bay under Captain Logan were brought to the attention of the public in Sydney.
“The case of each of those unhappy men was marked by circumstances of peculiar atrocity. The cool deliberate manner in which they deprived their unfortunate victims of life; the total want of adequate provocation; the motive by which they were actuated—that of removing themselves from a penal settlement, to the hardships of which they had been justly subjected, by an unrestrained perseverance in crime — all combined lo allay every portion of sympathy which the fate, even of a murderer, has been sometimes known to excite.”
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Tuesday 21 April, 1829.
SPICER’S DIARY: Friday, 03 October 1828- Remarks: “Died in Hospital yesterday, William Parfitt by Earl St Vincent in consequence of wounds received on the head with a pickaxe from John Brungar on Saturday 27 September last”.
William Parfitt did not re-offend to earn his sentence at Moreton Bay. He was one of a group of six prisoners “ordered by the British Government to be sent to Norfolk Island, being notorious bad characters, but His Excellency the Governor has deemed it advisable to send these to Moreton Bay where they are to remain during their respective sentences”, according to the Chronological Register. Parfitt, from Exeter, was 26, a Farmer’s man by trade, and had another 4 of his original 7 years to endure at The Bay before he would be free.
His killer, John Brungar (variously reported in the Sydney press as Burgin, Brunker and Brogan), from Kent, was a transported lifer, who had reoffended by absconding and committing a felony in Parramatta the year before.
Brungar was tried prior to the other defendants, and was ordered to be executed on Thursday 16 April 1829, however the warrant did not arrive in time.
“The multitude assembled on the rocks, at the rear of the gaol, dispersed with an air of disappointed curiosity when they perceived the executioner ascend the scaffold alone, and remove the rope which had been pendent the whole of the morning.”
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 18 April 1829.
The assembled ghouls would be satisfied on Saturday 18 April, when Brunger was hanged together with Thomas Matthews, Thomas Allen and Patrick Sullivan – also convicted murderers from Moreton Bay.
SPICER’S DIARY: Monday, 02 February 1829- Remarks: “Died this day: Foreman John Carroll, via Sir Godfrey Webster 2 – killed by Thomas Allen and Thomas Matthews”.
John Carroll was a young man from Wicklow who had a taste for robbery. In 1824, he received 7 years’ transportation for the offence, only to rob a hut in Wallis Plains 3 years later. He was a handy labourer who had only recently returned from a 6-month spell of absconding. In covering the trial for his murder, The Australian speculated that Carroll (or Connolly as they called him) had been recently lashed as a punishment and may have asked to be murdered. No other reporting of the case mentions this – the object, according to other the other available sources, was a killing to prevent an escape plan being made known.
The killers were Thomas Allen, a mariner from Bristol, transported for 7 years, who had earned a 3-year sentence at Moreton Bay for running away from his iron gang and committing an assault; and Thomas Matthews from Manchester, a lifer, who was doing an additional 3-year sentence for absconding.
“The circumstances of this case were very few and simple. It appeared in evidence, that the prisoners and the deceased were employed in a road gang, at Moreton Bay, and that the prisoners having meditated an escape from the settlement, were apprehensive that the deceased would frustrate their intentions by giving information against them.
They accordingly resolved to take away his life, and on the day laid in the information, whilst they were at their usual work, the prisoner Matthews knocked the deceased down with a spade, and the other prisoner, Allan, coming up, cleft his head in twain with a mattock.”
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 18 April 1829.
In Sydney the following April, Matthews and Allen sought a postponement of their trial, saying that they could not defend themselves without their witnesses. The Court refused, on the ground that they had not requested witnesses when before the Commandant at Moreton Bay.
The prisoners’ frustration produced some very disruptive behaviour in Court, particularly from Matthews.
“During the latter part of the trial on Thursday, Matthews continued tossing about the floor of the dock, reiterating that he was murdered or about to be, and uttering imprecations against all concerned in his trial not excepting Judge and Jury.”
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 18 April 1829.
Both men were found guilty of murder and ordered to be executed and anatomised. A crowd gathered in anticipation of what the turbulent Matthews would say or do on the gallows and were rewarded with a memorable scene.
‘Whilst the hangman was preparing the nooses, Matthews expressed a wish to make his dying declaration, which not being objected to by the Sheriff, he began by accusing the Commandant at Moreton Bay of severity and cruelty. He cautioned the prisoners to avoid Moreton Bay. “If you go to Moreton Bay, (said the culprit,) you are ruined beyond redemption. You are either flogged to death or worked to death. I have known many bright men murdered – completely murdered by the ill-usage of overseers, constables, and those above them. Take warning by me – take warning – never run from your road gangs or iron gangs. If may perhaps send you to Moreton Bay, and then you are a lost man. The last time I was flogged was for stealing a few grains of wheat. I received a hundred severe lashes. Oh, fellow prisoners, avoid Moreton Bay.”’
Australian, Tuesday 21 April 1829.
Brunger followed Matthews and confirmed his remarks about Moreton Bay, adding that he would have been found innocent had he been able to bring his witnesses from Moreton Bay.
Allen, it was reported, had enjoyed a hearty breakfast, and had remained calm until he reached the gallows. He did not say anything to the assembled witnesses.
SPICER’S DIARY: Thursday, 12 February 1829 – Remarks: “Died yesterday, Michael Condron via John Barry 2, killed by Patrick Sullivan with a brush hook, by wounding him on the head therewith”.
Michael Condron (reported by one Sydney paper as Patrick McConderan) was a 35-year-old from Limerick, sent to Australia for cow stealing, and reoffended by absconding 7 times, earning him 3 years at Moreton Bay. He had a year to go at The Bay.
His killer, Patrick Sullivan (reported as James Sullivan), was from Cork, and was transported for life for stealing sheep (rather than cows). He reoffended in Penrith in 1828 by repeatedly running away and being an incorrigible character. This tendency brought him to Moreton Bay.
There is less information on the trial and execution of Patrick Sullivan, who was dealt with in the same sessions as the more dramatic Matthews and Allen. There was no reporting as to motive – it may have been personal, it may have been to prevent an escape plan being leaked. He went calmly to his execution on the same day as the others, and uttered the words “Goodbye lads, pray for me”.
SOURCES:
QUEENSLAND STATE ARCHIVES Series ID 5652 Book of Monthly Returns of Prisoners Maintained.
QUEENSLAND STATE ARCHIVES Series ID 5652 Chronological Register of Convicts at Moreton Bay.
Australian , Tuesday 21 April 1829
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Tuesday 21 April 1829.
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 18 April 1829.
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