In January 1848, Captain Wickham, Government Resident for Moreton Bay, received a letter from the Colonial Secretary’s Office in Sydney, ordering the closure of the Convict Hospital at Brisbane. The result was that everyone and everything had to go – patients, paupers, medicines, furniture – the lot. What couldn’t be sold was to be shippedContinue reading “Please, Governor, may we have a hospital?”
Category Archives: Colonial Secretary Correspondence
Who Lives in a Place Like This? Part 3.
The Sketch Map of Brisbane Town in 1844, and the stories behind it. 31. Taylor Shappart There was no Taylor Shappart in Brisbane in 1844. There was a tailor, John Sheppard, who lived and worked at Brisbane at the time, and later moved to Ipswich. I suspect that between the Gerler’s understanding of English namesContinue reading “Who Lives in a Place Like This? Part 3.”
The Infernal Vagabond of a Woman
In April 1840, a young convict servant to Mr Robert Dixon, a Surveyor at Moreton Bay, was sent to Sydney on the Cutter John. Unusually, her fare and rations were paid directly by Mr Dixon, rather than the Government. A year later, she would figure in a trial at Moreton Bay that arose from aContinue reading “The Infernal Vagabond of a Woman”
New Countries, New World
Convict Snapshot: John McDowall New York, 1771 John McDowall was born in New York in North America in 1771, a subject of the English Crown, like all New Yorkers at the time. As a little boy, he could explore the countryside and farmland of Manhattan, at least until the Revolutionary War and pre-war skirmishes madeContinue reading “New Countries, New World”
Habeas Corpus and a Sudden Visitation of God
Convict Snapshot: George Baxter George Baxter had led a law-abiding and successful sort of life until he got a job with rules he didn’t fully understand. He was a veteran of the 95th Regiment, and part of the Royal Veterans’ Company formed to populate New South Wales with useful, non-criminal settlers once their service wasContinue reading “Habeas Corpus and a Sudden Visitation of God”
What do you have to do to go to Moreton Bay?
A survey of some early cases Criminal sentencing is a polarising topic – it’s not harsh enough on some criminals, too harsh on others. The press and public periodically lament the judiciary’s lack of community awareness. Life means life etc. Modern Australia does not have the death penalty, but it was well and truly onContinue reading “What do you have to do to go to Moreton Bay?”
A Notorious Rogue and Vagabond
John Longbottom FIGHTS THE LAW At York in January 1817 a young sailor was convicted of burglary and sentenced to seven years’ transportation to New South Wales. Even for a man accustomed to sailing, the prospect of a journey to the other side of the planet would have boggled the imagination. The fact that aContinue reading “A Notorious Rogue and Vagabond”
What have you been doing with the strait waistcoats?
Because every now and then research on something else entirely leads to a hidden gem. From the Colonial Secretary to the Superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum: “Sir, In reply to your Letter of the 1st instant, I request to be made acquainted with the manner in which the straight waistcoats already provided for your establishmentContinue reading “What have you been doing with the strait waistcoats?”
Moreton Bay and More 