Description
Some Absconders from The Moreton Bay Penal Settlement
A lengthy article was published in The Queenslander on Saturday 14th December 1901 under the heading “A Curious Old Record”, with the sub-title “Moreton Bay Penal Establishment Under Captain Logan”. The author W H Traill was seeking first-hand accounts of Logan’s perhaps maligned reputation while he was the Commandant. The author wanted to establish whether Logan deserved to be recorded in the history books as a tyrant.
This “curious old record” had not been sent to Sydney, so it had not been condemned to the fate of many records and been destroyed. It was a ‘shabby, calf-bound book’ of foolscap pages bearing the heading “A Daily Account of Labour Performed by Crown Prisoners at Moreton Bay in accordance with Govener Brisbane’s instructions of 1824.”
Traill examined the pages carefully and found that one man in four under Logan’s charge absconded and ‘faced the most disheartening perils in the hope of escape to nowhere in particular’. Most of these absconders were captured or returned voluntarily when they found survival in the bush too difficult.
The record is now held at the Queensland State Archives and is also known as ‘Spicer’s Diary’. Peter Spicer was the Superintendent of Convicts at Moreton Bay from August 1826 to May 1839.
Author: Convict Connections
With information compiled by: Marilyn England
Type: Paperback – 22 Pages
Year: 2008
Publisher: Convict Connections
