Book of Ryans - Rising Nationalism
Van Diemmen' s Land
Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania, was discovered by the Dutch commander, Abel Tasman, while he commandeered the ships Heemskerck and the Zeehaen. While in search of new trading routes for the Dutch East India Company, Tasman found this small island and named it in honor of the Governor General of the Company, Anthony Van Diemen. The land was severe, and the early convicts found sandy soil, flies and other pests, extremely hot weather, and a lack of fresh water. It was not unusual for a convict, serving a minimum sentence of seven years banishment, to be greeted by daytime temperatures in excess of 100 degrees, and in some cases temperatures exceeding 130 degrees.
Van Diemen's land had historically been used to confine Irish revolutionaries, even after Ireland won emancipation in 1829. Two of Ireland's greatest political figures, John Mitchell and William Smith O'Brien, were sent to Van Diemen's land after the Great Famine of the 1840s for chastising England's inaction to save Ireland's famine victims. Not all who arrived at Van Diemen's ports were criminals; many prisoners requested that their wives accompany them to Australia or follow them at some later date. Permission to accompany one's spouse on these convict ships - or joining their husband in Australia while he was still a convict - was rare as this passage indicated:
The Privy council records contain hundreds of letters from wives asking to go into Australian exile with their husbands. Generally the authorities would not allow this, unless the convict had earned his ticket-of-leave and shown that he could support a family in Australia.[1]
The restrictions placed on the convict's family by the Privy Council limited the number of requests for passage to Australia, and of the requests submitted for review only a few were granted. In 1836, for example, only 24 applicants joined their spouse in South Wales, a province in southern Australia. These free settlers, as they were described, had their expenses paid by the British government which also included any children who accompanied the arriving spouse. Shipping records showed that Catherine Birmingham with her children Mary, age 15, and Simon, age 12, joined their father, James Ryan, in South Wales. Another entry noted that Jane Ryan and Catherine Ryan joined William Ryan who originally hailed from Coony Barony of Conagh Doone.[2]
Transportation of convicts continued well into the 19th century, and recorded documents indicated that transportation of criminals to Van Diemem's land sustained until 1853. The last group of convicts were sent to western Australia, and ironically consisted of Irish Fenians, an Irish extremist group dedicated to the violent overthrow of English rule in Ireland.
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island, a small island east of Australia, was created as a penal colony in 1824. Lord Bathurst, the political personality behind the creation of the Norfolk penal colony, intended that this island be the ultimate place of terror for the worst criminals in England's penal system. This was highlighted a few years later by Governor Ralph Darling when he wrote "my object was to hold out that settlement as a place of the extremist punishment, short of death."[3]
Conditions on this island were severe by 19th century standards, and frequent deaths and severe depression were an accepted fact of life. Once the convict was assigned to Norfolk Island, there was little chance for parole. The convict's prison sentence ranged from 10 years to life, and one of the requirements for leaving was to demonstrate a spotless record for 5 years. Usually this record could be erased at the whim of a prison official who could doom the inmate for an additional term. In many cases their sentences were never completed. The abuses were more substantial after James Morisset became the administrator on Norfolk Island. He tolerated and encouraged arbitrary abuses to the inmate population, and he actively encouraged prison guards to make prison life miserable.
These molestations eventually caused an inmate rebellion in 1833 under the leadership of John Knatchbull, a military man who rose to the rank of Captain in the royal navy but fell into hard times after the Napoleonic Wars. Because this riot was unplanned and the prisoners had no weapons, the revolt was contained by the guards in relatively short order. Ultimately 35 inmates were convicted of mutiny with 21 sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance for parole, and the remaining 14 were sentenced to death including a number of Irish descent: Michael Anderson, James Bell, John Butler, Walter Rourke, Robert Douglas, Henry Drummond, Patrick Glenny, William Graves, Thomas Freshwater, Henry Knowles, William McCullough, Robert Ryan, Joseph Snell, and John Toms.[4]
The Australian Catholic vicar-general, William Ullathane, broke the news to these men that they had received the death sentence for their participation in the mutiny. In his book "Catholic Mission," he described the events shortly after he informed them of their fate:
"Those who were to live wept bitterly, whilst those doomed to die, without exception, dropped on their knees, and with dry eyes, thanked God that they were to be delivered from such a place."[5]
Approximately one third of the convicts on Norfolk Island were Catholic and almost all were of Irish extraction. Eventually Morissett was replaced with other administrators who continued the policies of strict discipline at Norfolk. Records showed that Morissett was replaced by Major Bunbury, 88th Regiment, and Major Ryan, 58th regiment. They eliminated some of Morisett's cruel methods; however, injustices remained and general reform of inmate cruelties continued.