Shadows of Vinegar Hill
Another Australian Timeline
Another Australian Timeline
Well, here it is, the timeline that was promised; this is going to be my lucky thirteenth timeline in as little as two years one the site, and in a change of direction the updates aren't going to be as excessively long or rambling as some of my other timelines, if only to have this story keep my attention. In any case, I hope you enjoy and reply.
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(Except from Australia's Opening by Andrew McMiller)
Contrary to almost universally popular belief, Australia's first armed military takeover came not during the days of William Kempsey and James Buckley, but decades earlier in the time of revolution, rebellion and war. During a period not often covered in all Australian history classes today, all whilst a entire world away Europe entered its fifth year of struggle against the machinations of the near imperial Napoleon, several conspirators plotted and planned one of the largest prison break in history up until that point; over 1000 men, 18000 miles and the largest empire and world becoming almost impossibly high walls that needed to be scaled.
From young men sent off on the smallest infractions all the way to the leaders of rebellion in 'the old country', in a foreign alien world totally detached from all ways they lived before, the schemers had connived and cajoled their way through years of punishing torture, ridicule and forced labour in order to even have the chance of a life that was stripped away from them in either just or unjust fashion. These plotters and conspirators were not men of the sword for petty idealism such as revolution and rebellion against their 'superiors', for that was a life they had left behind. No, these men were simple men, and of the simplest things they could crave in life was the comfort of home, family and faith, nothing that was brought along with them to this new world. Indeed, the only motives was a lust for home that stood a million miles away behind high seas and bickering empires; and for that they orchestrated one of the most outstanding (albeit short lived) military takeovers in the history of mankind.
This was the New South Wales Rebellion.
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(Except from The Life and Death of Phillip Cunningham by Howard Bernard Johnson)
Despite initial concerns by other members of his small group of conspirators, Phillip's letters arrived to their intended destinations on time without authorities intercepting the messenger (a power of which they held since the earliest days of the new settlement), a full day before the outbreak was intended to be set in motion. Now with 24 hours to continue planning with his co-leaders (Johnston and Holt primarily) in the Castle Hill farmlands that he and his 'squadron' of convicts were appointed to, he had suddenly found himself with another one thousand Irish men at his side ready to rise up when the 'torch' was lit across the vast landscape of the relatively close townships, with the messages promising any British convict their own freedom if they had only laid down their picks and shovels and supported the attempted break out when the time came. Of course, such a promise would be hard for the Irish rebels to keep long enough to begin contemplating a 'change of spirit', but between the lowly characters that waddled around the fields of New South Wales in 1804 Cunningham would soon discover all the English support he needed. Now was just a matter of hours and minutes.
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(Except from Colonial Australian Statistics from AustralianIrishAncestors.org)
Please note: due to the lack of many significant sources of information on 'births, deaths and burials' during the most catastrophic phase of Irish convict action in New South Wales, especially following the rebellion of 1804, much of the information here comes from a number of conflicting sources. As a result, we here on the administration team have done the best we can to piece together a compilation of all the scarce data we could in order to present to our visitors a rough makeup of colonial New South Wales immediately prior to the rebellion.
Free settlers - ~734
Soldiers - ~230
Total 'civilians' - ~964
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British convicts - ~5157
Irish convicts - ~1719
Total convicts - ~6876
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Total Population - ~7840
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(Except from the New South Wales Rebellion article from OpAl)
New South Wales Rebellion
The New South Wales Rebellion of 1804 was a rebellion by convicts against the colonial authority in the British colony of New South Wales. This rebellion culminated in the sacking of the colonial capital at Sydney and the brief overthrow of the British from the Australian mainland before the subsequent recapture and resettlement of the region. It was the first successful armed takeover of an Australian government since European settlement in 1788.[1]
On 4 March 1804, 233 convicts led by Phillip Cunningham (a veteran of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, as well as mutiny on the convict transport ship Anne) escaped from a farm intent on capturing ships to sail to Ireland. In response, martial law was quickly declared in New South Wales. The mostly Irish rebels, having gathered 1048 reinforcements from surrounding regions, marched on settlements at Castle Hill and Parramatta before overthrowing the British New South Wales Corps at Sydney. Failing to capture a single ship in Port Jackson after escaping British soldiers and free settlers scorched many of the larger vessels the convicts were forced to take effective control of the colony. After freeing many other convicts and administering Sydney and Parramatta for almost a year, the British army returned on 15 February 1805 and re-established control over the colony.[2] 180 convicts died during this period with 14 of the rebel leaders later being executed by colonial authorities.[3]
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