Joseph and Mary

I have been reading an interesting account of a convict ship that arrived in the colony in 1829. A Cargo of Women: Susannah Watson and the Convicts of the Princess Royal by Babette Smith is a gripping account of the lives of the women convicts aboard the 'Princess Royal'. The book outlines the dire poverty these women endured in England and how it contributed to each woman's fate. Many of the women dreaded the journey and destination they were about to encounter, but others welcomed the opportunity and regarded it as a means to escape their desperate situations. Although much of the focus is on a female convict named Susannah Watson, it touches on most or all of the convicts. One such woman is Mary Ann Taylor.

Mary Ann, found guilty of highway robbery, was a dairymaid from Wiltshire and had been assigned straight from the ship's arrival in 1829 to Campbelltown and Reverend Thomas Reddall. It did not take her long to find a man in the male dominated tiny settlement. Joseph Giles was assigned to landowner William Howe of Glenlee Estate. Glenlee homestead, built before Joseph was assigned there, still stands proudly on land between Campbelltown and Menangle. Joseph Giles was also born in Wiltshire, in the village of Salisbury around 1800. A Protestant, he arrived in the Colony on board the Marquis of Hastings in 1826 as a convict. The work Joseph did for Howe included gardening and dairy farming. An indication of the good character of Joseph and Mary is revealed in the recommendations supplied by Reddall and Howe. Rev. Redall said that Mary Ann 'has conducted herself tolerably well since she has been in my family', while William Howe, supporting Giles, said he 'has been in my employ since his arrival in the Colony and has conducted himself in a proper manner. I consent to his marriage and undertake to receive them both into my service.' Joseph and Mary stayed with him until Joseph obtained a ticket-of-leave at the end of 1834.

Glenlee homestead taken in 1980

Babette Smith provided an insight into the long journey Mary Ann experienced on the 'Princess Royal'. Despite most of her fellow passengers coping well with a particularly warm day on the voyage, according to the surgeon's log, Mary Ann found the heat on the ship oppressive and collapsed after helping to clean the lower deck. Surgeon Wilson found her lying on her berth and red in the face. Two weeks later, she sat for too long on the upper deck and dramatically fainted into a delirious fever.

Following Joseph's ticket-of-leave, the couple moved to the Stonequarry district (today's Picton) and Joseph worked there as a stockkeeper. They later moved back to Campbelltown where Joseph became a police constable. This was not uncommon for convicts to be employed as policemen. However, Joseph was caught stealing a hat in February 1838, despite his recent successes. He was sentenced to an iron gang for 12 months and lost his ticket-of-leave. Mary Ann was left to support herself and her young daughter Sarah without their cattle which were forfeited to the Crown.

Again, Joseph displayed good behaviour and the major in charge of the stockade at Campbelltown recommended a remission of his sentence. He was later described as a quiet and laborious man, well- spoken by his superiors. He later obtained another ticket-of-leave and Mary Ann joined him in the Liverpool area. Joseph died in 1847 at Denham Court. Mary Ann later married a William Banford the following year at Denham Court. They had no children. Despite a considerable search, I am unable to be sure what became of Mary Ann. It is also unclear what happened to William Banford.

I ran a cemetery tour last September at Denham Court Cemetery. I explained that the oldest grave with a headstone in the cemetery belonged to a Joseph Giles. The very weathered stone stood on the edge of the church yard, as it has done for 177 years. It was only after reading about and researching his wife Mary Ann in the last week that I realised the connection.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

SMITH, Babette

A Cargo of Women: Susannah Watson and the Convicts of the Princess Royal

Campbelltown Pioneer Register

Robert Lack

Compiled by Barry Lack using sources from Alan Shaw.

 

Most of what we know about the early life of Robert Lack comes from his still-extant enlistment form, dated 7-7-1795, on the occasion of his entry into the British Army at Waverley Camp (a temporary military camp set up in 1742 in Great and Little Warley, Essex, at Warley Common, an area used for several later camps, of which the 1778 one was visited by George III and by Dr Samuel Johnson). This document states that he was aged 21, had a brown complexion, brown hair, black eyes, was five foot six inches tall on admission, and could neither read nor write. Most importantly for research, he stated that he was born in the Parish of Lynn (now “King’s Lynn”) in Norfolk, England, and was by trade a shoemaker. 

 

Researching baptisms in 1773 and 1774 at the few churches then operating in King’s Lynn, we have identified two Robert Lacks, born in 1773 within a few months of each other. In the village of Syderstone, Robert Lack, son of John Lack and Sarah Freezer, was baptised at St Mary’s Church on July 10, 1773. In the township of Gaywood, Robert Lack, son of Robert and Ann Lack, was baptised at St Margaret’s Church on September 7, 1773. While no firm conclusion can be drawn regarding which Robert eventually enlisted at Waverley Camp, most researchers record Robert and Ann as the more-likely parents, as there was a strong tradition for Robert and his New South Wales descendants to name their first son after the father, perpetuating the name “Robert” for several generations. 

 

On enlistment, Robert was placed under the command of Colonel Sir Charles Asgill. By May, 1797, he was a gunner in the Fifth Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, the Company's Commander being Captain Edward Wood. He received nineteen shillings in pay for the month of May, 1797, at which time his army career came to an abrupt and inglorious end.

 

He was discharged from the army on May 27, 1797, charged – along with another gunner, John Halbert, both men being stationed in the Park of Artillery in the parish of St. Peter and St. Mary, near the town of Lewes, in the county of Sussex, England –  on the confession of William Akine, that, in April 1797, he “did steal with force and arms in the company of others, 250 lbs of gunpowder, 3 barrels made of wood and copper (value 6 shillings), 4 tents made of hemp, linen, cotton, wood and tin (value 3 pounds), 1 marqee made of same materials (value 30 shillings), the goods and chattels of Lord King George III”. 

 

Committed to Lewes Gaol on June 7, 1797, by William Green Esquire, Robert was found guilty at the Sussex Assizes and sentenced, in August, 1797, to be transported “beyond the seas for the term of seven years to such place, etc.”.

 

He was transported, along with 103 other males, to the colony of New South Wales, departing from Spithead, England on June 21, 1801, on the ship Canada, in company with two other transport ships, Minorca and Nile. The Canada (393 tons) was built at Shields, Northumberland in 1800. It was under the command of Captain Wm Wilkinson, and the surgeon was Jn Kelly.

 

While three males died on the journey (which took 176 days, arriving in Sydney December 14, 1801), fortunately for Robert, his journey to Australia was in more humane and favourable conditions than other fleets and ships. This is reinforced by the following extract from page 93 of Frank Clune's book, 'Rascals, Ruffians and Rebels of Early Australia': "On 1st March 1802 Governor King wrote to the Duke of Portland saying, "All the settlers and convicts arrived by the Canada, Minorca and Nile in good health, and were by far the best conditioned that have ever arrived here....."".

 

Robert recognised his new home offered him a ‘second chance’. He was granted his Certificate of Freedom in 1804.  However, on August 18 that year, five men employed in a Government boat, viz. Peter Ware, Edward Loug, Robert Lack, George Howell, and Henry Hart, were taken before a Magistrate, and charged with stealing a quantity of corn out of a boat; which offence being clearly proved, they were severally ordered to be corporally punished, and the last named four sent to hard labour at Castle Hill. Governor King had begun a government farm there, on July 8, 1801, referring to it as ‘Castle Hill’ on March 1, 1802. In 1804, the convicts rebelled in the ‘Castle Hill convict rebellion’, also known as the second 'Battle of Vinegar Hill'. I am unable to confirm whether Robert was involved in this rebellion.

 

In the NSW General Muster of 1806, Robert was described as Free By Servitude, and a self-employed shoemaker. He joined the Loyal Sydney Volunteers under Governor William Bligh (1806-1808). In 1810, by his good conduct and behaviour, he was granted 50 acres of land at what is now Riverwood, NSW, by Colonel Paterson, the grant confirmed by Governor Lachlan Macquarie (emancipists figured prominently in Macquarie’s plans for the colony. As a result, he readily issued them with land grants of good farmland around Airds and Appin).

 

Robert was one of the early grantees in the Riverwood area, for, from 1788 to 1810, the area was inhabited by aboriginal tribes with an occasional visit by escaped convicts or hunters in the government’s employ. White settlement officially began in this area with land grants such as Robert’s.

 

On February 1, 1811 Robert was granted his Certificate of Emancipation and entrusted by Macquarie with keeping “in good perfect Substantial and proper repair” the road from “the Toll Gate Opposite the Factory in Parramatta to the Howes Bridge Windsor”, for which he was paid in rum (a contract – dated 28-2-1815, signed with an ‘X’ by Robert Lack, and witnessed by four government officials, including D’Arcy Wentworth -- and authorisations of payment -- dated 2-6-1815, 4-9-1815, and 16-4-1816, and signed by ‘L.M. His Excellency, Governor Macquarie’-- still survive).

 

Robert subsequently became an employer of convicts, for which service he was granted additional land, as is evidenced by a surviving letter (29-11-1825) from Robert Lack to Surveyor-General John Oxley requesting “one such quantity of Land as I may be entitled to” in return for maintaining convicts “free of expense to the Crown” (researcher Shirley White mentions a grant “of 60 acres at ‘Botany Bay’, later Peakhurst”). 

 

The 1822 Muster records William Eggleton as being an employee of Robert Lack in Liverpool; he also employed William Thompson on this site, and William Dyson on still more land, in Campbelltown, of which Shirley White notes that “he must have bought, because he didn’t receive it in the form of a grant” ). 

 

As Robert’s land grant was insufficient to maintain his stock and carry on cultivation, he requested (September 4, 1824) a further land grant from the governor, Sir Thomas Brisbane, due to his having maintained “free of expense to the Crown a number of convicts, to which he might be entitled under government regulations”. It is not known whether this last request was successful, as a further letter to the Surveyor General, John Oxley, dated November 29, 1825, provides details of convict maintenance. However, after 1825, due to the Bigge Report, governors were no longer authorised to issue land grants to those who had completed their sentences or had been otherwise pardoned.

 

In March, 1823, Robert was an Honorary Constable in the District of Airds. He and the other Honorary Constables in the district signed and submitted a list of eight measures to the government, to aid in “preserving that Tranquillity in the District which, for some Months past, it has enjoyed”.

 

On March 20, 1826  he  married Elizabeth Frazier (nee Eggleton, daughter of William Eggleton, his employee from 1822) at St.Peter's  Church of England, Campbelltown, NSW. Both were classed as "free" and signed the register with an 'x', following banns. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Thomas Reddall and witnessed by John Patrick of Airds, and Catherine Patrick, also from Airds, who signed with her ‘x‘ mark. Elizabeth Eggleton was born on February 18, 1796, at Prospect, NSW, to William Eggleton and Mary Dickenson, both First Fleet convicts. Before marrying Robert Lack, Elizabeth was married to John Frazier (Frasier).

 

Robert and Elizabeth had four children :

1. Robert Lack, b. 1824

2. Eliza Lack, b.1826

3. Sarah Sophia Lack, b. 1828

4. Elizabeth Mary Lack, b. 1831

 

Robert had a shoe making business in Airds, and established the first bakery in 1827, from which it is said, he supplied the government stores with bread. At the time of the 1828 census, he had acquired 60 acres of land, two horses and three head of cattle. In December, 1828, he had three bullocks and a cow either strayed or stolen from him. He placed ads in the newspaper offering a £1 reward or subsequent prosecution.

 

In 1831 Robert had a candle factory in Airds, using animal fats or tallow to make the candles. A second candle factory owned by Paul Huon also existed at the time. The Economic History of Campbelltown records that Robert and Paul were in partnership. Robert was also a Licensed Auctioneer.

 

Robert Lack died in Campbelltown, NSW, on April 12, 1832. He was buried April 16, 1832, by Rev. T. Reddell, in that part of the cemetery set aside for former convicts, at St.Peter's Church of England, Campbelltown, NSW. It has been suggested that there was never a headstone to mark his grave, as there had been opposition to him being buried in a church cemetery (consecrated ground) due to his former-convict status; however, some former convicts buried in St.Peter’s cemetery do have headstones, e.g. Edward Fletcher and Thomas Hammond.

 

In Robert’s Will he was classed as a settler in the district of Airds. He bequeathed to his eldest son, Robert (who would become the father of the lone survivor of the 1849 Lack Cottage murders) his farm of 30 acres in the district of Airds, adjoining Messrs Patrick and Riley. The residue of his real and personal property was left to his 3 daughters, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Eliza; the whole to be under the control of his wife, Elizabeth, for the maintenance and support of herself for her natural life, should she not again enter into marriage (she did, however, remarry, on 25-8-1834, to James Richardson, the sexton of St Peter’s Church, who would, on January 20, 1849, brutally kill her, her daughter, and her granddaughter, and critically injure her niece, inside the cottage that Robert had built for them). There is also reference in his Will to allotments granted to him in Campbelltown as well as land in Campbelltown, bought….Mr Daniel Cooper and now partly built upon. One of the Executors of Robert’s Will was Thomas Rose.

  

Thomas Hammond

One of the most prominent people in the early days of Campbelltown was Thomas Hammond. He was born on 15 July 1792 in Gawsworth, England. Thomas became a London brick maker who, at the age of nineteen, had been transported for seven years. He arrived in Sydney on the General Hewitt in 1814. He received a grant of 100 acres at Campbelltown when his sentence expired and he named this property Clari Montes.

The convict ship Genral Hewitt

 

In 1824 Hammond married Ann Byrne, the daughter of an Appin settler. The marriage produced eight children. The family worked hard at Clari Montes, planting grapevines, hops and fruit trees. His family reportedly lived in a 'commodious dwelling' with outhouses. As well as possessing a strong knowledge of farming, Hammond also put his skills in brickwork to advantage. He was granted land on the corner of Cordeaux and Queen Streets, where he built an inn which he named the Kings Arms. It consisted of 12 rooms, a kitchen and stables. He was also awarded a contract to convert Cooper's public house into a courthouse and gaol in November 1826.

The Kings Arms Inn, photographed in 1886 when it was known as The Club Hotel

 

Thomas Hammond also played a significant role in the story of Fisher's Ghost. At George Worrall's trial, Hammond, who knew Fred Fisher, said of Worrall "In July he offered to sell me some boards of Fisher's, which he was authorized to dispose of by a written power, and would show it; but he never did. The boards must be taken away immediately, he added, for fear of an execution be put in, and that Fisher had left because he was afraid of a persecution for forgery." While talking to Worrall, Hammond noticed that he had a pair of trousers on which belonged to Fisher. Cross-examined, Hammond said: "Fisher was a much smaller man than the prisoner, and it was the tight fit of the trousers that lead me to notice them; also the cut- the prisoner being a country farmer."

Thomas Hammond also ran a boarding school known as the Campbelltown Academy or Clari Montes Academy during the 1830s and 40s. The school operated at Clari Montes and was still in existence in December 1844. In promoting his school, Hammond pushed its healthy and retired situation, the extent of the grounds that allowed pupils to exercise and entertain themselves. Fresh fruit and vegetables and dairy produce were in abundance for the pupils to take advantage of. Three teachers were employed, high fees were charged, but the school proved unprofitable.

Thomas was often writing to Sydney newspapers about various causes. In 1835 he was involved in a public stoush with Dr William Kenny over his underpayment for the doctor's services for attending to his family. Kenny's extraordinary advertisement in the Sydney Gazette was meant with equally frank language from Hammond in the following issue. Thomas also regularly wrote to the Government, pushing for the growth and improvement of the town.

We have a physical description of Thomas Hammond provided by local historian J.P. McGuanne in his Centenary of Campbelltown in 1920. "He was tall, this, slimly built; his thinish lips seemed responsive to inward jokes, which he occasionally expressed."

Thomas Hammond lived out his days at Clari Montes (sometimes known as Claremont) where he died in 1876. Despite his convict past, he was described as a "Gentleman" in the burial register. Hammond Place, Campbelltown was named in his honour.

There are not many physical reminders left of Thomas Hammond's days in Campbelltown. The King's Arms on the corner of Cordeaux and Queen Streets has long gone, replaced with today's City Hotel. Clari Montes is also long gone- it's house, orchards and grapevines obliterated by urban development. The property, I believe, was in the vicinity of today's new suburb of Macarthur Heights. Parish maps support this claim. The Thomson family of St Andrews ran a dairy farm on the site in the twentieth century. Even his gravestone appears to have disappeared. Thomas was buried in St Peter's Cemetery. The grave is today unmarked, although a number of sources refer to a marker in the past. He is buried in Section A, Row M, number 2.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

FOWLER, Verlie 1983
A Stroll through St Peter's Churchyard

LISTON, Carol 1988
Campbelltown: The Bicentennial History

HOLMES, Marie 2012
A Scrapbook of History: stories of the Macarthur District

McGuanne, J.P. 1920
A Century of Campbelltown

John Madden

The life of convict John Madden is a fascinating story. Let me briefly describe it to you.

John Madden was born in 1792 in County Galway, Ireland. Records disclose that at the Galway Assizes on 31 March, 1820 he, together with three other prisoners, were indicted for appearing in arms as Ribbonmen, and for administering unlawful oaths. Ribbonmen were a 19th-century popular movement of Catholics in Ireland. They were active against landlords and their agents, and were ideologically and sometimes violently opposed to the Orange Order. The name is derived from a green ribbon worn as a badge in a button-hole by the members.

In Madden's defence, one of the jury is reported to have said, "... that Madden was in his company as a soldier, in the Galway Militia, and that he was a well-conducted man." Yet another, who gave evidence, swore on oath that he knew "... all the prisoners, and never heard anything against them until this business." Nonetheless, Madden and two other prisoners were found guilty and the fourth was acquitted. Madden and another was sentenced to be transported for life.

He arrived as a convict in the colony on the Dorothy on September 19, 1820. John's description in the convict register describe him as 5 feet 4 inches tall, of sallow complexion, having dark to greying hair, hazel coloured eyes and a scar over his left eyebrow. He was a shoemaker and labourer.

John was assigned to Thomas Reddall in 1823 on his Smeaton property and later on his Glen Alpine property. His good behaviour earned him the privilege of a Ticket-of-Leave which, on the recommendation of the Airds Bench, was granted on 22 June 1831.

In 1834 John purchased three-quarters of an acre of land on Menangle Road, part of Paul Huon’s grant. A year later, on 16 November, 1835, John petitioned His Excellency, Major General Sir Richard Bourke, KCB, Governor and Commander in Chief, to be "re-united to the Family from which he was separated at the Time of Transportation". Subsequently, sons Patrick and John embarked on the Elphinstone, a convict ship which left Kingstown Harbour, Dublin on 8 September 1838 bound for New South Wales. Bridget, his wife, sailed from Dublin one week earlier aboard the Margaret but, according to shipping records, daughter, Mary, by this time, had already died. They were all lated re-united with John in Campbelltown. Imagine how exciting this wouldv'e been for them all after so long apart!

John and his wife Bridget lived at Madden's Hill on Menangle Road on land which, today, is in the vicinity of the Sydney Water Supply Channel, north of the Sugarloaf Tunnel, Campbelltown.

John Madden died in 1851 aged 58 years and is buried in St John's Catholic Cemetery. Unfortunately his headstone has recently fallen over.

 

John Madden's headstone in St John's Cemetery in Campbelltown before it tumbled over (Verlie Fowler Collection).

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

https://sites.google.com/site/ourfamilysitegroup/Home/madden/madden-john

Campbelltown Pioneer Register 1800-1900

 

 

The Campbelltown Convicts

Our local studies section recently acquired a copy of Peter Hind's fantastic new book The Campbelltown Convicts. It's a must read for those with an interest in Australian history and in particularly our convict past.

On 19 March 1818, a young man called John Champley was committed to the House of Correction in Beverley, Yorkshire, England, for two years’ hard labour. He had been convicted of being a party to the theft of eighty pounds of butt leather in Pocklington on 13 December 1817.

Four months later, after an attempted escape from the House of Correction, he was sentenced to transportation to one of His Majesty’s ‘Plantations or Colonies abroad’.

Champley arrived in the penal colony of Sydney Cove on Thursday 7 October 1819 and was assigned to a shoemaker at Parramatta. After receiving his freedom in May 1826, Champley left Parramatta – with the shoemaker’s wife.

Early in 1829, Champley and his family left Sydney to live at Bong Bong. In February 1830, following a robbery at the nearby Oldbury estate, Champley and his two alleged accomplices, John Yates and Joseph Shelvey, were sentenced to death at Campbelltown. They were saved from the gallows upon appeal by their barrister and their death penalties commuted to ‘life and hard labour in irons’. Champley and Shelvey were sent to Norfolk Island, and Yates to Moreton Bay.

About a year later, two captured bushrangers from Jack Donohoe’s gang made confessions concerning the robbery and Champley, Shelvey and Yates were brought home and pardoned. However, the trial and incarceration had by now reduced their lives from one of hope to one of despair.

~~~

Many Australians now take great pride in tracing their convict heritage, but this has not always been the case. Historically governments destroyed convict records and families kept their offspring in the dark about their convict ancestry which has made it difficult to establish the true stories of these convicts.

The backdrop to this story is the slavery of the convict system in New South Wales with the terror of the penal settlements of Norfolk Island and Moreton Bay.

Under this evil system excessive floggings were handed out by the magistrates. The floggings and starvation drove many convicts to abscond and take to the bush to become bushrangers. Even when the convicts were emancipated they were still treated as second class citizens.

This book serves to record as many facts and details as possible of one story from this tragic period in our country’s history. It is a timely reminder that compassion and authority do not always go hand in hand.

Written by Andrew Allen

Lesson Not Learnt

Thomas Rudd came from Bermondsey in London, England where he worked as a dustman. He was transported to Australia twice! The first time for stealing a pair of women’s shoes for which he spent two years in the hulks at Portsmouth and then was sent to New South Wales for five years. He was transported again in 1801 on the Earl Cornwallis for stealing a bag of sugar.

He married fellow convict Mary Kable in 1806. Thomas was granted 50 acres of land at Campbelltown on the 20th of June, 1816. 

Rudd died on December 15, 1830 and is buried in St Peter’s. His headstone reads that ‘He laft a wife and nine children to lament his loss’. Rudd Road in Leumeah is named after him.

One of his descendants is former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Mr Rudd has visited the grave of his ancestor in St Peter's and has a keen interest in his ancestry. He was highly amused that his ancestor was transported out here twice.

Thomas Rudd was featured in the library's tour of St Peter's Cemetery last Wednesday for the 2014 National Trust Heritage Festival. The next tour will be next Thursday May 8 at St John's Catholic Cemetery at Campbelltown. Contact the library for bookings and more information.

Details of the inscription on Thomas Rudd's headstone in St Peters Cemetery (Verlie Fowler Collection).

Written by Andrew Allen

 

National Trust Heritage Festival 2014

Step back in time and trace the journey of our early settlers by participating in a tour of our local cemeteries, to be hosted by Campbelltown City Council’s Library Service in celebration of this year’s National Trust Heritage Festival.   

The festival will run from 12 April to 26 May and celebrates the theme, ‘Journeys’.   

Embracing this year’s festival theme, Campbelltown City Library will host a walking tour of  St Peter’s Anglican Cemetery on Wednesday 30 April, and of St John’s Catholic Cemetery on Thursday 8 May. Both tours will be held from 11am to midday and will focus on convicts interred in the cemeteries and their ‘journey’ from their homeland to Campbelltown. Cost is free, but bookings are essential. Participants will meet at the front gate of each cemetery at 11am. 

Accompanying the tours will be a display at HJ Daley Library featuring the lives of the convicts discussed in the tours. The display will also feature Campbelltown library staff that settled in Australia from overseas, highlighting their journey as refugees or migrants. 

For more information, or to book for the tours, phone 4645 4436 or visit campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/whatson 

Visit nationaltrust.org.au for more National Trust Festival events.  

 

 

The graves of convicts James and Elizabeth Ruse in St John's Catholic Cemetery. Both will be featured in the library's cemetery tours.

 

The Man who saw The Ghost!

A great deal has been written about Frederick Fisher, of Fisher’s Ghost fame, but there would have been no story if John Farley had not seen the ghost! There is only a little information about John.

John Farley arrived in Australia in 1812, having been tried at Old Bailey Second Middlesex Jury in 1810 for stealing a quantity of clothing from a dwelling house. He was found guilty and sentenced to life. Transported to New South Wales, aboard the “Guildford” in 1812, he spent the next five years in the service of Governor Macquarie. He petitioned for mitigation of sentence in 1818. John may have received this mitigation of sentence, as he was on a list of persons to receive land grants in September 1818. 
John became a settler, and was described by Rev. Reddall and Major Antill as ‘capable and industrious’. He again appeared on a list of orders for land grants in 1825.
In 1826 John played a role in the mystery of Fred Fisher, being the one to whom the ghost “appeared” thus leading to the finding of the body. Theories abound as to the veracity of this sighting; regardless it has made its way into the history books. It was certainly not enough to scare John Farley away from the district!

By 1828 John and his wife Margaret were prospering on their 325 acre farm on the Appin Road south from Campbelltown. He had also been appointed a Constable.
John Farley was recommended for Absolute Pardon later in November 1837; the same year he built the early colonial home “Denfield”. There is no doubt that John was a respected citizen. He died in 1841, and is buried in St Peter’s Churchyard, Campbelltown. John went to his grave saying he had seen the ghost of Frederick Fisher.

 

Written by Claire Lynch

Sources -

www.historyaustralia.org.au

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org

http://colsec.records.nsw.gov.au

http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au

Library Pamphlet files

A Stroll through St Peter’s Chuchyard Campbelltown N.S.W  by Verlie Fowler