Everyone gets disappointed when events are cancelled because of weather, but here are some cancellations 167 years ago that were even more disappointing for convicts in the new colony of Queensland. I told a version of this story live on Ipswich’s West Bremer Radio.
In October 1859, that’s 167 years ago this week and just months after Queensland separated from New South Wales as a spearate colony, there were eighteen Ipswich convicts who had their tickets-of-leave cancelled.
A ticket-of-leave was like a probation that allowed convicts to work and live freely, but with conditions. For those eighteen men that meant that they had to stay out of trouble, remain in the Ipswich district, and report for muster. Fail that and they were back on the chain gang.
For these ticket-of-leave men, they missed muster at Ipswich and were declared illegally at large.
One was William Young who just three years earlier had been sentenced to eight years on the road gangs for horse stealing, and that was after a previous sentence of three years on the roads.
Another was Henry Sullivan from Limerick in Ireland. He’d been sentenced to three years for forging cheques, and he was notable for being particularly hairy, especially his arms, legs, and chest.
Another Limerick man was John Keefe. He’d been sentenced three years for stealing money, and at the time of losing his ticket-of-leave in Ipswich there was actually an outstanding warrant against him for theft in Rockhampton.
A third Limerick man was Michael Sheahan. He’s quite interesting because he came to Australia as a member of the British Army with the 11th Regiment of Foot, and was then tried by General Court Martial and sentenced four years for desertion probably for going to the gold rush. He was lucky he wasn’t executed.
Then there was William Sutton from Lancashire in England. He was already serving a serious fifteen year’s transportation when given an additional five years for wounding with intent. He twice lost his ticket-of-leave for absconding, so one wonders why they let him loose in Ipswich at all.
Stephen Thomas was another very hairy man. After losing his ticket-of-leave and then regaining it, he settled at Booval in Ipswich. It was there that he was charged with stealing duelling pistols, declared insolvent, had his horses, dray, harness, cow, calf, and household furniture, sold and rented back to him. More of his property was sold to pay his debts, including his clothes and four of his teeth.
David Semphill was a bullocky who lived in Ipswich, but why he was given his ticket-of-leave there doesn’t make sense. Just eight years earlier he’d been sentenced to transportation for Life for burglary in Ireland, and just recently he’d been sentenced in Brisbane to an additional ten years for murder.
There was Barnett Levi, he’d been sentenced to ten years for stealing and then another five years for highway robbery. In England he would have hanged, but here he was sent to Ipswich.
Finally, there was John Wilson, he was sentenced to ten years for housebreaking in Glasgow, Scotland, and was among the exiles aboard the ship Bangalore that arrived in Moreton Bay in 1850. Others with him on that voyage included Dick Austin who would set the record for the biggest robbery in Ipswich history, Peter Gentle who bribed the police to let Austin escape at Gatton Creek, and the pensioner guard Michael Turley who became the oldest person ever sentenced to death in Australia.
So if you feel sorry for yourself because a sporting or family event gets cancelled, just remember those Ipswich convicts who had their tickets-of-leave cancelled and had to go back on the road gangs. Life was never easy in colonial Australia.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON WEST BREMER RADIO.
Photo credits:
Ipswich’s Cancelled Convicts – Harold Peacock with Copilot.
Ipswich Ticket-of-Leave convicts as per official desciptions 1859 in order of mention – Harold Peacock with Copilot.
The convict Bangalore based on scrimshaw photo from Carters Price Guide to Antiques – Copilot image.
