Patrick Dodd - Research Paper

This is my convict case study I completed for University of Tasmania in 2021. For some reason the word document has disappeared, but I have a PDF with full intext referencing for those who might be interested. I've included the bibliography at the end of this post.

On 30 August 1828, Patrick Dodd sat down to a meal of roast ham. He’d stolen it earlier that evening in an act of highway robbery that ultimately led to his transportation to Australia. 

Laurence McGuirk and a young boy travelled in a mule cart on the King’s Highway near Naas, Ireland, when they were bailed up by Patrick, Michael Connolly and Edward Dowling. One held the mule’s bridle while Dowling presented a pistol, knocked McGuirk in a ditch and robbed him of his watch. The trio absconded with nineteen hams, groceries and two tablecloths which they divvied up before sitting down to a meal.

Patrick and Michael stood trial before the Dublin Commission, 1 November 1828. When McGuirk could not identify them, Edward Dowling was called as an approver and testified that Patrick, Michael and himself had committed the robbery and many other crimes together. With this information the judge found Patrick and Michael guilty, and a judgement of death was recorded. Edward’s confession, it seems, saved him from conviction.

It is unclear why their sentences were commuted to transportation or where they were held before being transferred to the Hulk Essex in Kingston Harbour, Dublin on 31 March 1829. Conditions on the hulk were reported to be harsh and prisoners were near starving and barely clothed. Common diseases noted were phthisis, diarrhoea, dysentery and scurvy. Lack of meaningful work and schooling onboard led to boredom and frustration which resulted in violence and disorder among the prisoners. During cold, wintery weather, Patrick and the others were confined underdeck for sixteen hours a day.

Patrick and one hundred and ninety-nine other convicts embarked upon the convict ship Guildford (8) on 30 June 1829, but it did not sail until 12 July. The ship’s twelve day delay required Patrick and his fellow convicts to be confined to their cells. The ship’s surgeon, John Stephenson, claimed this resulted in the convict’s clothing being worn-out before departure. Stephenson concluded this was the reason forty convicts contracted dysentery during the one hundred and fifteen day voyage. Despite these conditions Patrick appears to have maintained good health on the journey and is not listed among the convicts treated onboard. 

Patrick disembarked at Sydney Cove, 4 November 1829. Indent records help to construct a profile of him. He was born in Kildare and was 30 years old (although his death certificate indicates he was closer to 37). Patrick had been employed as a ploughman.  He was 5 foot 6½ inches tall, with hazel eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion. The records tell us he was Catholic, and he was a married man with a family of four. What the records did not yet reveal was that he was married to Michael Connolly’s sister, Ann, and in fact had six children, the youngest, Michael, being a newborn at the time of the robbery.

Patrick was assigned to Dr Andrew Gibson, a colonial surgeon and a local magistrate. Gibson had taken up a 2000 acre grant, Tirrana, near Goulburn in 1827 and along with his brother-in-law, William Pitt Faithfull, were some of the first settlers in the district and masters to a number of convicts. During this time Patrick met fellow convict Michael Cotter, aged 22, who was assigned to Gibson in 1831. Both had been ploughmen and their farm experience may be why Gibson kept them on after they gained their Tickets of Leave. Patrick must have proven to be a well behaved convict because Gibson was known to serve harsh punishments for minor misdemeanours including gaol time or delay of rewards. Indeed, in 1835 Patrick’s good conduct allowed him to apply for his family to migrate to NSW.

In March that year, Michael Cotter received his Ticket of Leave and in July married Catherine (the register has her age as 24). It would be a while before Patrick could be reunited with his family as he did not receive his Ticket of Leave until 1838. It had originally been granted 10 May 1838 at the recommendation of W P Faithfull and W H Hovell, but it was suspended until November that year due to what appears to be a refusal to accept an order.

Convicts, such as Patrick, who had received life sentences were not eligible for a Certificate of Freedom, instead if they continued to be well-behaved, to colonial standards, they could request a pardon. It is likely Patrick continued to work for Faithfull at Tiranna as his Second Class Pardon, 3 July 1846, came at the recommendation of Faithfull and Hovell.

Patrick Dodd appears to have stayed on the right side of the law as no further records or recounts can be found for him in connection to crime. After gaining his Conditional Pardon, he was eligible to apply to lease Crown Land. In April 1849, Patrick won, via action, a lease of one thousand acres along Stoney Creek, Narrawa. Despite a lot of research nothing can be found about his farming pursuits. His death certificate tells us that at the time of his death he was still a farmer. Two things attest to the probable success of his endeavours. Ann, who died 17 November 1857, was buried on the property. Her grave has a substantial, engraved headstone and a footstone bearing testament to Patrick’s love for her. The second hint is a seven pound church building donation made by Patrick around 1860 toward the erection of Saints Xavier and Joseph Catholic Church at Gunning. This would have equated to about two months wages for the average farm labourer. Family legend claims Patrick Dodd and Michael Cotter found a sizeable amount of gold. As gold was discovered in Narrawa in the creeks near their respective farms this may be plausible.

Patrick lived a relative long life, dying 5 October 1865 at the age of 73 at Narrawa. The irony of Patrick’s conviction is that it may have saved his family’s lives. The Great Irish Famine began in 1845 and about a million lives were lost after potato crops were attacked by late blight. Who knows what would have happened to Patrick and his family if he had not been transported or brought his family to Australia?

BIBLIOGRAPHY – Primary Sources

Acceptance letter on behalf of Ann Dodd to join husband in New South Wales, Holy Family Church, Rathcoole, Ireland.

Australia, Convict Indents, 1788–1842, Ancestry.com, accessed 18 May 2021.

Cork Constitution.

Dublin Evening Packet and Correspondent.

Empire.

Freeman’s Journal. 

Headstone for Ann Dodd, died 1857, lone grave, ‘Hollywood’, Narrawa, New South Wales.

National Archives of Ireland (as filmed by the AJCP)/Series CRF/File. Vol. CRF Misc.1-4/Vol. CRF Misc.1-4, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2295063423, accessed 13 June, 2021.

New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806–1849, Ancestry.com, accessed 19 May 2021.

New South Wales and Tasmania, Settlers and Convicts, 1806-1849, Ancestry.com, accessed 4 June 2021.

New South Wales Government Gazette.

New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842, Ancestry.com, accessed 18 May 2021.

New South Wales, Australia, Convict Registers of Conditional and Absolute Pardons, 1788-1870, Ancestry.com, accessed 15 June 2021.

New South Wales, Australia, Register of Leases, Ancestry.com, accessed 10 June 2021.

Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, New South Wales.

Saunders News-Letter and Daily Advertiser. Stephenson, John, Surgeon, Journal of the Guildford, 1829, ‘UK, Royal Navy Medical Journals, 1817-1857’, Ancestry.com, Accessed 6 June 2021.

Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser.

Ticket of Leave butts, 31 Mar 1827-20 Aug 1867, Ancestry.com, accessed 10 June 2021.

Ticket of Leave butts, February 1838- March 1838, Ancestry.com, accessed 10 June 2021. 

Transportation records (Ireland to Australia) held by the National Archives of Ireland (as filmed by the AJCP)/Series FS/File. Vol. FS List 1-7/Vol. FS List 1-7, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1063172738, accessed 10 June 2021. 

Transportation records (Ireland to Australia) held by the National Archives of Ireland (as filmed by the AJCP)/Series FS/File. Vol. FS List 1-11/Vol. FS List 1-11, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2308489251, accessed 10 June 2021. 

Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922, Ancestry.com, accessed 25 May 2021. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY – Secondary Sources

Carney, Meg, ‘Irish Prison Hulks’, Genealogical Society of Queensland, 26 October 2020, https://gsq-blog.gsq.org.au/irish-prison-hulks/, accessed 2 May 2021. 

Mokyr, Joel, ‘Great Famine: Ireland 1845-1849’, Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Famine-Irish-history, accessed 1 June 2021. 

O’Sullivan, Donal, ‘The Essex Hulk’, Dún Laoghaire Harbour Bicentennary, 13 March 2017, https://dlharbour200.ie/the-essex-hulk-donal-o-sullivan/, accessed 14 June 2021.

Scott, David, ‘Cattle up in the Trees: First Graziers Upon the Kiandra Plains 1834 - Dr Andrew Gibson, William Pitt Faithfull & George Thomas’, Part of PhD research into the Kiandra Goldfield, Lincoln University Paper presented to the AHA, Canberra, 2-6 July 2018, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330401274_Cattle_up_in_the_Tr ees_First_Graziers_Upon_the_Kiandra_Plains_1834_- _Dr_Andrew_Gibson_William_Pitt_Faithfull_George_Thomas_Palmer, accessed 1 June 2021. 

Sydney Living Museums, ‘How Were Convicts Rewarded for Good Behaviour?’, https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/convict-sydney/rewards-freedom, accessed 12 June 2021.