THE HOMESICK EXILES

When writing to the Duke of Portland on February 5, 1798, Governor Hunter had occasion to mention the refractory and restless character of the Irish convicts in and around Sydney:

“To come without further preface to the point in question,” he wrote, “I have to inform your Grace that the Irish convicts are become so turbulent, so dissatisfied with their situation here, so extremely insolent, refractory, and troublesome, that, without the most rigid and severe treatment it is impossible for us to receive any labour whatever from them.”

Governor Hunter went on to complain about that this “ignorant, obstinate, and depraved set of transports” took every available opportunity to escape into the woods in the belief that China lay a short distance overland to the north, and that Ireland could be reached by crossing the Blue Mountains to the south.

In his interesting book, Curious Facts of Old Colonial Days (1870) James Bonwick stated that “So late as in 1814, seven men bolted from their gangs to go across the Blue Mountains, and so reach the west coast, which could not be far off, as they thought. When arrived there, it was their intention to build a boat, and row over to Timor for escape. The press of the day took great pains to show the extreme folly of these people in undertaking such a journey, when so ignorant of geography; and the editor of the Gazette proceeds to exhibit his own learning, by assuring the citizens that the continent was ‘not less than five hundred miles across’!”

In the example that follows you will find an example of an Irish “escape story” of the kind that gradually became a part of the folklore of early Sydney. This is from the Naval surgeon P. Cunningham’s Two Years in New South Wales (1828).

To China and Timor they [Irish convicts] sometimes travel south and sometimes west; but toward Ireland they always travel southerly, knowing that Ireland is a colder country than New South Wales, and that the cold winds blow here from the south, therefore Ireland must lie in that direction. It was an Irishman accompanying Governor Macquarie on his interior tour in 1821 who first ascertained the proximity of Ireland, by detecting the blue mountains of Connaught in the distance beyond a river of red water which put a stop to their journey. Several large parties instantly set off on foot for the joyful country; the whole of whom were either taken, or returned on losing their way, or on their provisions becoming scanty.