Castle Hill New South Wales Australia
Related Events
Showing 3 events out of 3 total
Many convicts in the Castle Hill area had been involved in the 1798 rebellions in Ireland and subsequently transported as exiles-without-trial to the Colony of New South Wales from late 1799.
Phillip Cunningham, a veteran of the 1798 rebellion, and William Johnston, another Irish convict at Castle Hill, plan an uprising in which over six hundred and eighty-five convicts at Castle Hill intend to meet with nearly eleven hundred convicts from the Hawkesbury River area, rally at Constitution Hill, and march on Parramatta, then Sydney (Port Jackson) itself.
According to Helen Mackay, their goal was to establish Irish rule in the colony and obtain ships for those that wanted to return to Ireland to help revive the failed Irish Rebellion of 1803.
John Cavenah sets fire to his hut at Castle Hill at 8:00 on the evening of March 4, 1804, as the signal for the rebellion to begin.
While this fire is not seen by the convicts at Green Hills, today's Windsor, on the Hawkesbury River, Cunningham activates the plan to gather weapons, ammunition, food and recruits from local supporters and the government farm at Castle Hill.
With Cunningham leading, about two hundred to three hundred rebels break into the Government Farm's buildings, taking firearms, ammunition, and other weapons.
The constables and overseers are overpowered and the rebels now go from farm to farm on their way to Constitution Hill at Parramatta, seizing more weapons and supplies including rum and spirits, and recruiting others to join their cause.
Their move had been informed from the intelligence gathered a year previous when twelve convicts decamped from Castle Hill, scouring the surrounding districts seeking out friends and sympathizers.
On capture each and every one had the same story—they were heading to China by crossing over the Blue Mountains.
When news of the uprising spreads there is great panic among the colony of around five thousand inhabitants with officials such as Samuel Marsden fleeing the area by boat, escorting Elizabeth Macarthur and her children, as an informer had advised that an attack will be made on the farm to draw troops away from Parramatta.
Initially, it was believed that the rebels were at Toongabbie, but on arrival Johnston is informed that they had moved on to Constitution Hill.
A small party under a corporal is sent to outflank this position, while an assault force of around a dozen men advances on the summit, only to find it abandoned, with the rebels having moved off towards the Hawkesbury, about seventeen miles (twenty-seven kilometers) away.
As the morning progresses, the heat of the day threatens to stymie the efforts of the marching troops, who are poorly equipped for the pursuit.
Nevertheless, about six miles (nine point seven miles) from Toongabbie, Johnston locates the main rebel party of around two hundred and thirty to two hundred and sixty men near Rouse Hill.
Johnston first sends his mounted trooper on to call the rebels to surrender and take the benefit of the Governor's amnesty for early surrender.
This failing, he dispatches Roman Catholic priest Father James Dixon to appeal to them.
Next he rides up himself, appealing to them, then gets their agreement to hear Father Dixon again.
The pursuing forces had meanwhile closed up and Major Johnston with Trooper Analzark comes again to parley, calling down the leaders Cunningham and Johnston from the hill.
Demanding their surrender, he receives the response "Death or Liberty" from Cunningham, to which some were reported to have added "and a ship to take us home".
With the NSW Corps and militia now formed up in firing lines behind him, Major Johnston and Analzark produce pistols, duping, while under truce, the two leaders of the uprising, and escorting them back to the Redcoats' lines.
Quartermaster Sergeant Thomas Laycock, on being given the order to engage, directs over fifteen minutes of musket fire, then charges, cutting Cunningham down with his cutlass.
The now leaderless rebels first try to fire back, then break and disperse.
At least fifteen rebels had fallen during the battle, according to the official reports.
Major Johnston prevents further bloodshed and killings by threatening his troops with his pistol, tempering their enthusiasm.
Several convicts are captured and others killed in the pursuit, which goes up to Windsor all day until late in the night, with new arrivals of soldiers from Sydney joining in the search for rebels.
Following this, large parties who had lost their way in the night turn themselves in under the amnesty or make their way back to Castle Hill, where a large party of about seventy under Samuel Humes are captured by a detachment of the Loyal Parramatta Association.