The Castle Hill Rebellion: 1804
TRANSPORTATION to the Australian colonies was initially reserved for convicted criminals such as thieves, counterfeiters and murderers. But in the wake of political unrest in parts of Britain and nearby Europe, including the
1789 French Revolution, the influence of radical dissenters became widely feared. And so Britain began transporting political prisoners.
The Irish Rebellion against British rule occurred in 1798. Among the many major battles fought during that uprising, one of the most infamous was the Battle of Vinegar Hill in County Wexford, during which rebels were mercilessly crushed by British forces and much blood was spilt.
Many Irish men and women were sentenced to transportation for their role in the uprising. But once in Australia they remained desperate to fight against British injustice, with the intention of returning home and continuing to support the Irish cause.
As a result, unrest in penal settlements was rife. From 1800–1804, many small rallies and revolts were planned in the Sydney region but most were thwarted before they began.
However, Australia had its own tragic ‘Vinegar Hill’ type battle.
Known as the Castle Hill Rebellion, it began on 4 March 1804. Rebel leaders Irishmen Philip Cunningham, a veteran of the 1798 Irish Rebellion, and William Johnston aimed to take over Parramatta and Port Jackson (Sydney), establish Irish rule and return willing convicts to Ireland.
The intention was to join with 1000 other convicts planning to escape from the Hawkesbury region before moving on the two settlements.
“Death or liberty”, was the rebels’ rallying call, and as darkness fell, a hut at Castle Hill Government Farm was set alight as a signal to begin.
There, about 300 convicts overpowered their guards and took supplies and munitions.They split into smaller parties and set out to raid nearby farmhouses. But many became lost during the night and failed to return to the rendezvous point just outside of Parramatta, reducing the convict force there. A messenger tasked with delivering rebel orders to convicts in the Hawkesbury surrendered to authorities, informing them of the plan.
Unaware that his reinforcements would never arrive, Cunningham moved the remaining convicts towards the Hawkesbury. Alerted to the rebellion late in the evening, governor Philip Gidley King declared martial law and Major George Johnston of the New South Wales Corps organised troops and civilian volunteers from the Sydney settlement to pursue the convicts.
Government forces undertook a forced march through the night until they came within a few kilometres of the rebels.
Riding ahead while the main contingent continued on foot,
Major Johnston, Father Dixon (a Catholic priest) and trooper
Thomas Anlezark tried to convince the rebels to surrender, but were met with the response: “Death or liberty, and a ship to take us home.”
When Johnston approached the convict leaders a second time, he and Anlezark took advantage of the surprise caused by the sudden appearance of government troops, and captured Cunningham and another rebel leader.While retreating with Cunningham, Johnston ordered government forces to fire on the convicts: 15 were killed and the rest scattered into the bush. At least 15 more convicts were killed in ongoing pursuits, and the majority surrendered or were recaptured.
After the rebellion, King had Cunningham and eight others hanged without trial. It is estimated that 39 convicts died in, or as a result of, the uprising, although accurate numbers may never be known.
Seven convicts were sentenced to between 200 and 500 lashes and, along with another 23 rebels, were then banished to the Coal River (Newcastle) chain gang.
While the Castle Hill Rebellion was ultimately unsuccessful, it did serve as inspiration for another famous uprising. Identifying with the ideals of liberty, justice and freedom espoused by the Irish rebels, both in Australia and in Ireland, the participants in the Eureka Stockade in Victoria in 1854 used the secret password “Vinegar Hill”.