Lovely Vaucluse House

View of the estate from the kitchen garden

Original portrait of Hayes' daughter, Mary Jude

We spent the morning wandering the grounds and house of the beautiful Vaucluse Estate in Sydney's eastern suburbs, run by the Historic Houses Trust NSW.

The curators of the house have done a magnificent job in showing how the house would have looked when the Wentworth family lived there in early to mid 19th century. Thanks Gary and Ron for showing us around.

View our Flickr account for more lovely photos of our visit.

We loved seeing the stone wall that is the only visible part of the original stone cottage built by Sir Henry Browne Hayes in 1803. The cottage was built by two Irish convicts, both of who Irish Wattle has identified through colonial records. Contact us for more details.

Spotlight on: Samuel Breakwell

Or Sir Henry Browne Hayes' "fancy man", as he was otherwise called by General Joseph Holt.

You may remember that we highlighted colourful Irish convict, Sir Henry Browne Hayes, in our November newsletter. Hayes had been the Sheriff of Cork before he abducted an heiress and was transported to New South Wales on the Atlas. One of Hayes’ many reputed antics in the colony was to import soil from Ireland to fill a trench around his home in Vaucluse, Sydney, with the belief that it would keep out snakes.

Samuel Breakwell sailed to Australia from Cork as a free man aboard the Atlas, arriving at Port Jackson in 1802. He served as Sir Henry’s valet until 1812 when they departed the colony on the Isabella. Their journey back was just as eventful as their lives in the colony, for the Isabella was wrecked in the Falklands enroute to Ireland.

Breakwell was, at the time of leaving Sydney, the owner of two properties, a 60-acre land grant (the site of the present-day Rose Bay) that he named Tivoli (after a stately home in Cork overlooking the River Lee) as well as the Vaucluse House estate (pictured above, though a later building than the one Hayes had built) that Hayes had generously given him. Breakwell was probably at the time also a father.

Once he returned to Ireland, Breakwell settled in Cork. Later, in July 1830, Breakwell gave Attwell Adam Hayes (nephew of Sir Henry) Power of Attorney to sell both the Vaucluse and Tivoli estates. In 1831 Breakwell, while living at Grattons Hill in Cork, sold Tivoli to Thomas Horton James of Sydney. Hayes at that time was also said to reside at Grattons Hill, possibly in the same house as Breakwell. Hayes died a short time after in 1832.

Four years later Breakwell married Julia Crowley in the Diocese of Cork and Ross. He was listed as a business owner in the 1844-1845 General Post Office Directory as “Samuel Breakwell, glover, 38 Grand Parade”.

The probate of his will was approved in 1847, so he probably died either in that year or the year before. There is no record of his death or burial record in the Death Registry because the Registry started in 1864.

This information is supplied by Rolf Grunseit, who would like to hear from anyone with further information on Samuel Breakwell and Sir Henry Browne Hayes. He is especially hoping to find any clues as to which ship may have delivered the Irish soil to Hayes in Sydney. If you are able to help, please contact us and we’ll forward your details to Rolf.

Wreck site of Irish convict ship heritage listed

A piece of Irish-Australian convict history will be preserved for future generations after being placed on the NSW State Heritage Register.

The NSW Minister for Planning, Tony Kelly has announced that the wreck of the convict prison ship Hive was officially on the register. The announcement was made when he visited Wreck Bay (pictured above) in Booderee National Park, near Jervis Bay, south of Sydney.

The Hive ran aground in Wreck Bay in 1835 with 250 Irish convicts, guards, the ship’s crew, women, children and a cargo of coin worth £10,000 on board. A crew member, the Boatswain, drowned while convicts and passengers were being transported from the foundering ship to shore. The crew established a bush camp in the adjacent sand hills of Bherwerre Beach, in Wreck Bay, to await rescue while they stripped the vessel of anything they could salvage.

Mr Kelly said the wreck of the Hive had to be protected because it was the only known ship wrecked on mainland Australia while carrying convicts. “It has considerable heritage significance as it meets all seven Heritage Council criteria for listing on the State Heritage Register,” Mr Kelly said.

Mr Kelly said the events surrounding the loss of the Hive demonstrate early contact with local Aboriginal communities.

“The co-operation and support of the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community members and other Aboriginal peoples in assisting the survivors and in passing word to distant Sydney is a key element of the site’s significance,” the Minister said.

Because the Hive is buried under sand, an important sonar survey of the shipwreck will be undertaken by maritime archaeologists from the Heritage Branch and the Commonwealth’s GeoScience Australia, to determine the amount of buried hull timbers remaining.

Wreck Bay gained its name following the loss of the Hive and another 10 subsequent shipwrecks.

What else is on the State Heritage Register?

For our researchers in New Zealand...

The Irish Lower North Island Interest Group is celebrating its fifth birthday tomorrow February 6. There are giveaways, spot prizes, raffles, Irish dancers and more!

More: New Zealand Society of Genealogists

Wicklow Gaol - Where the 1798 rebels were held

The Wicklow Gaol was where those Irish patriots involved in the 1798 rebellion were held prior to transportation to Australia. Inmates included prominent rebels such as "General" Joseph Holt and Michael Dwyer.

The first Irish convicts were transported to the Sydney colony in 1791 and prisoners were sent there from Wicklow Gaol from 1796 until the 1850s. You can find more history on the Wicklow Gaol website.

Read the Wicklow Gaol blog for stories of the ghosts that still haunt the gaol today! And play the video above for a ghostly tour by Wicklow guide Marie Cromerford.

Mr Knaresbro, gentleman convict

To celebrate the re-printing of A Nimble Fingered Tribe we thought we'd feature one of the more adventurous from the book - a gentleman convict who would have dearly loved to have avoided the spotlight that was put on him in the 1790s.

Spring of 1793 brought Mr James Fitzpatrick Knaresbro, seducer of heiresses and prisoner for life, to the colony. He devoutly protested that of the first description he certainly was not; he defended this by asserting that of the two women he seduced in Ireland, the first was only a milliner, and the second was “a girl in a Low Sphere”. In early 1791 he was charged in Ireland with the rape of a Miss B——n. Knaresbro, a man of property, maintained his innocence during his trial at Carlow Assizes.

He was sentenced to transportation for life, but Sydney was no substitute for the life of a womanising dandy in Ireland. He was desperate to leave the colony, and convinced the authorities to let him do so even though he was transported for life. He left for America on 19 March 1796 per the Abigail with the goodwill of Governor Hunter and David Collins, the Judge Advocate.

More than likely, he’d been allowed to leave on the proviso that he not return to Ireland. But within twelve months, he was back in Dublin. He must have known the penalties for returning from transportation, whatever the good opinion of the judge advocate in New South Wales, so his moving about town with insouciance, and his indignation when he was again arrested, perhaps evinces that arrogance necessary to any seducer of heiresses. Three men turned up on his doorstep one September morning, eight weeks after he’d returned to Dublin, and marched him down to the New Prison. Just days later, an incarcerated Knaresbro wrote alarmingly to his peers that the police have “given out that I was an officer in the French Service and came as a spy!!”

He campaigned over many months for his release, writing to as many former friends as he could think of. But he might well have been a highwayman, for all his highbrow connections proved unwilling to have a hand in his release.

Two years later, his health by now failing, he had given up petitioning for his freedom, instead requesting a solitary cell within which other prisoners would not intrude upon him. In May 1799, when news came to him of the death of his father, he requested bail in order to put certain estate and financial matters in order. This appeal appears to have been rejected: the last known record of Knaresbro in 1800 has him still lodged in the New Prison.

His date of death has not been found.

James Fitzpatrick Knaresbro's full biography appears in A Nimble Fingered Tribe by Barbara Hall

New stock arriving at Irish Wattle!

Great news! A Nimble Fingered Tribe by Barbara Hall has been sold out for a while now, but we're embarking on our third print run. First published in 2002, A Nimble Fingered Tribe traces the lives of 164 Irish convicts transported on the Sugar Cane in 1793.

New stock is due to arrive at Irish Wattle in February 2010.

Visit Irish Wattle for more information on A Nimble Fingered Tribe.

Event: Researching the first Irish transported to Sydney

Event The Irish Vanguard: Researching the first Irish transported to Sydney

Presented by Barbara Hall and Cassie Mercer

Where Vonnie Young Auditorium, Level One, Bowen Library, 669 Anzac Pde, Maroubra, 2035

When Saturday, February 20, 2010

How to book Contact the Randwick & District Historical Society

During the 1790s close to 1000 Irish were sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay. At a time of great political and social upheaval in Ireland, the authorities were convinced these unwanted citizens would be better off out of sight, out of mind. Barbara Hall has spent the past 15 years researching their stories, from their convictions in Ireland, to the lives they carved out in the penal settlement and the contributions they made to early Sydney society.

An author of five books that cover these transportees, Barbara, and her editor, Cassie Mercer, will talk about the research process, challenges they’ve encountered along the way, and some of the fascinating stories they’ve uncovered on those very first Irish in Australia.

The Irish Vanguard is out now!

In The Irish Vanguard, Barbara Hall traces the lives if the

155 Irish convicts transported to Sydney on the Queen in 1791. Some, including the heavily pregnant Catherine Edwards, became notorious for absconding into the bush from Parramatta, in the hope of reaching China.

The Irish Vanguard is Barbara Hall’s fifth book in her series

of Irish convicts transported to New South Wales prior to 1800. Her meticulous research chronicles each and every convict on board the Queen and brings their stories to life. Here, discover their crimes in Ireland and their fate in the penal colony.

The Irish Vanguard is available for purchase now

through Irish Wattle.