Black and white image of a convict pardonport arthur, convicts, convict pardon, james ingram

Black and white image of a poster relating to the departure of Governor George Arthur from Tasmania.port arthur, convicts, convict pardon

Black and white image of a convict pardonport arthur, convicts, rules, poster

Part of the original cottage named Culla Hill built by Thomas Sweeney (a former convict) remains as a small section of today’s house. Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme National Estate National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Local Sifgnificance Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p19 Thomas Sweeney, a former convict who became a respected citizen, once lived on a property at what is now the corner of Sweeneys Lane and Culla Hill, Eltham. As Sweeney was one of the district’s first settlers, the property is registered by the National Trust. Thomas Sweeney was born in 1802, son of impoverished tenant farmers in Tipperary County, Ireland. He became a ploughman, then at 21 he was sentenced to hang for setting on fire the house of Patrick Guyder at Gullshill. It is said the arson was due to a dispute over undelivered guns to a social justice guerilla group, the White Boys, of which Sweeney was a member. But the sentence was commuted to life transportation to Australia in 1823.1 Apparently in Sydney he became a servant to James Chandler at Botany. Soon James Chandler leased his farm and became a catechist on the Hawkesbury River, so Sweeney was reassigned to a former convict, John Brown, at Liverpool. Later Sweeney was assigned to George Brown of Lake Illawarra. In 1831, Sweeney was granted a ticket-of-leave and bought a boat to carry goods between Illawarra district and Sydney Town. He married his first wife who had come to Australia as a free woman. However she drowned after bearing him a daughter. In 1838, one month after he had received a conditional pardon, Sweeney married a blacksmith’s daughter, Margaret Meehan, newly arrived from Ireland. They then moved to Port Phillip and squatted on the south side of the Yarra River, about seven miles (11km) from Melbourne. Around 1842, Sweeney bought 110 acres (44.5ha) in the parish of Nillumbik for £110. He built a slab hut 12 x 10 feet (3.6m x 3m) and then his homestead, Culla Hill, a typical Tipperary style cottage, now known as Sweeney’s Cottage. It was here that many generations of Sweeneys lived for almost 100 years. Culla Hill became a social centre for the district and the Catholic community used it as a church. Sweeney was apparently on good terms with a tribe of Aborigines living on the river nearby, who helped him build his house.2 Sweeney proved himself a civic-minded leader. In 1844, he led a call for a bridge over the Plenty River. He was on the first school board and supplied the first grain for Eltham’s mill. Sweeney profited during the gold rush, not by gold digging, but by providing supplies for nearby fields and others as far away as Beechworth.3 Thomas Sweeney died in 1867 and was buried at the Eltham Cemetery, leaving two sons, five daughters, and 300 acres (121.4ha), as well as Culla Hill. Culla Hill – by then reduced to 75 acres (30ha) – was sold out of the family in 1939, then renamed Sweeneys. The present Sweeneys Lane, running diagonally through the original holding, was the track to the house. Part of the original cottage remains as a small section of today’s house. The dining-family room fronted by a veranda is original, and although there have been some changes, the cedar door and most of the small 12-paned wooden-framed windows are original. The walls are made of the original hand-made brick. After buying the property in 1952 Mr and Mrs Burston demolished a dilapidated slab hut, a three-roomed detached kitchen and cellar, as materials needed to restore them were very difficult to obtain so soon after the war.4 However the barn remains almost in its original condition. It is believed to have been built from stone quarried on the property. Now roofed with iron sheets it was probably originally thatched. The sandstone barn has a peaked roof supported by the original saplings and a doorway large enough to accommodate a fully loaded wagon.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, culla hill, eltham, sweeney's cottage, sweeneys lane, thomas sweeney

1 optical discnon-fictionConvict ticket-of-leave register, Toodyay Acc. 721/30 The Swan River Colony, founded in 1829, as a free settlement needed an injection of capital and an increase in population if it was to thrive. In late 1849 a petition signed by prominent settlers, requesting that male convicts be sent to the Swan River, was submitted to the colonial office. This request was welcomed and transportation officially began to Western Australia in 1850. The first convict ship, the Scindian, arrived at Fremantle on June 1 carrying 75 convicts and a small group of Enrolled Pensioner Guards and their families. Eighteen years later the last convict transport, the Hougoumont, arrived with 280 convicts, mostly Irish political prisoners, making a total of nearly 10,000 convicts arriving in the colony. This availability of cheap labour resulted in many convicts being granted their 'ticket-of-leave' before their sentences had expired, which allowed private settlers to employ them. To facilitate the distribution of working men throughout the settlement, hiring depots were established in key town and country areas. Ticket-of-leave men could not leave their assigned district without permission; had to carry their 'ticket' with them at all times and produce it to any official on demand; as well as lodge an official form with the local magistrate on January 1 and July 1 every year which detailed residence, employer and rate of pay. On the positive side, ticket of leave men were able to choose their own employer and even work for themselves. They could also marry with permission of the authorities and even own land. At the end of their sentences, ex-convicts or 'expirees' were given their freedom, although those with life or long-term sentences were often granted Conditional Pardons, which conferred most of the benefits of freedom but did not allow them to return to England. The movement of convicts around the colony is preserved in the many surviving convict registers which are now kept in the State Records Office of WA . These registers list the names of employers and the dates convicts were employed, and detail the rates of pay and any brushes the convict had with authorities. Many of the employers were themselves 'ticket-of-leave' men, expirees or conditional pardon men. One of the convict hiring depots was at Toodyay and two registers from this institution for the period 1862 to 1870 have been archived in the State Records Office at Accession Number 721, volumes 30 and 31. The impact these men had on the infant colony can best be guessed from the statistical data available from official records. In 1850 there were only 5,000 residents in the colony, but at the end of the convict period the number had risen to 25,000. While some convicts emigrated to other parts of Australia after receiving their conditional pardons, the majority stayed in Western Australia. Some had their families join them from the United Kingdom, while others married the young women who came out on the 'Bride Ships'. Over the years family historians' research into their forebears' convict origins have shown the profound influence these men have had on the development of the State of Western Australia and the districts in which they worked, settled and raised their families.western australia, convicts western australia, toodyay registers

Thomas Sweeney was born in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1803, the son of an Irish farming family. As a young man, he became embroiled in the continuing struggle against colonial domination and the injustices of the land tenure system and was captured when trying to burn down the farm house of Patrick Guyder at Cullahill in 1823. His sentence to be hanged was commuted to Life Transportation to New South Wales. After 8 years as an assigned convict within the confines of the NSW Colony, Thomas's 1831 Ticket of Leave allowed him to work for himself. His 1838 Conditional Pardon allowed him to finally break free of that colony and move to the Port Phillip District to start a new life as a free man.In June 1842, while living on the Yarra in Boroondara, Thomas applied to purchase 110 acres in the Parish of Nillumbik. He called his farm 'Culla Hill' after the place in Tipperary where he had been captured in 1823. With hard work and good fortune, the Sweeney family made their mark in the area which came to be called Eltham.The story of Thomas Sweeney, one of the earliest European settlers, told in this comprehensive book, is significant in telling the early history of Eltham.sweeney family, thomas sweeney, eltham, culla hill, port phillip district