Irish convict only 9 years old!

Port Macquarie's convict past has many interesting characters, but perhaps one of the most tragic cases is that of an Irish boy named Johnny Dwyer. He was convicted of stealing a watch and at the age of only nine years was sentenced to transportation to Australia. Johnny arrived in Sydney on February 9, 1832.

He was a shade under 1.22m (4 feet) tall with brown hair and grey eyes. He ran away four times and was flogged each time he was recaptured. His next flight earned him 14 days in the cells on bread and water. He was later incarcerated on the prison hulk Phoenix as a "troublesome runaway". Johnny was sent to Port Macquarie, which was used as a place of secondary punishment, where his short troubled life ended on July 23, 1836, the cause of his death unknown. He was only 14 years old and was buried on July 25 in the Second Burying Ground. It is unimaginable today to think that a young child could be treated in this way by those charged with his care.

For more information see: Port Macquarie,The Windingsheet. Gwendoline Griffin & Ronald Howell for the Port Macquarie Historical Society

Source: The Daily Telegraph Saturday, October 16 1999 p.128 courtesy of Cheryl Perry.