In 1800 he was one of the unsuccessful mutineers on the Anne as it took rebels to Australia.
As part of his punishment for this, Cunningham was sent to Norfolk Island, but the new colony of Sydney Town needed stonemasons. Cunningham was transferred to the Government Farm at Castle Hill, where he soon became the overseer of the masons and was given permission to have his own stone cottage built.
In October 1802 Cunningham and fellow convict Connor Sheehan tried to escape on a French ship. Both were caught. Cunningham received a hundred lashes. It says a lot about the poor quality of government and the inconsistent application of ‘justice’ in the colony that Cunningham was given the freedom to organise yet another rebellion.
There are several conflicting accounts of his death: that he was shot or struck down during the truce by Lieutenant Laycock, or that he was slashed to death or seriously wounded by a sword thrust, or that he was wounded but escaped and recaptured during that day or the next night.
It is fairly certain that on the morning of 6 March he was taken to the Hawkesbury and hanged in a storehouse (a place where stores or rations were kept and distributed, i.e. a public place), either alive or dead, with his body left hanging as a warning to other rebels. He is believed to have been eventually buried in the nearby convict burial ground, but no marker was put up and there seems to have been no record kept of where his body was laid, to prevent his gravesite being used as a memorial for a martyr.
But who was Philip Cunningham? By 1804 did he want to go back to Ireland and the continuing rebellion there, as alleged by the Reverend Marsden when he claimed the rebels had demanded a ship to take them home, or, by proclaiming the Republic of New Ireland, was he dreaming of a just society in Australia?
In this book I’ve had him driven by the desire to help those forced into a life of poverty like Frog, a man in love with justice, not a man driven by revenge and hatred. But as with so much of the past, we do not know.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JACKIE FRENCH AM is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator, the 2014–2015 Australian Children’s Laureate and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. In 2016 Jackie became a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to children’s literature and her advocacy for youth literacy. She is regarded as one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors and writes across all genres — from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi to her much loved historical fiction for a variety of age groups. ‘Share a Story’ was the primary philosophy behind Jackie’s two-year term as Laureate.
jackiefrench.com
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ALSO BY JACKIE FRENCH
Australian Historical
Somewhere Around the Corner • Dancing with Ben Hall
Daughter of the Regiment • Soldier on the Hill • Valley of Gold
Tom Appleby, Convict Boy • A Rose for the Anzac Boys
The Night They Stormed Eureka • Nanberry: Black Brother White
Pennies for Hitler
General Historical
Hitler’s Daughter • Lady Dance • How the Finnegans Saved the Ship
The White Ship • They Came on Viking Ships • Macbeth and Son
Pharaoh • Oracle • Goodbye, Mr Hitler • Just a Girl
Fiction
Rain Stones • Walking the Boundaries • The Secret Beach
Summerland • A Wombat Named Bosco • Beyond the Boundaries
The Warrior: The Story of a Wombat • The Book of Unicorns
Tajore Arkle • Missing You, Love Sara • Dark Wind Blowing
Ride the Wild Wind: The Golden Pony and Other Stories
Refuge • The Book of Horses and Unicorns
Non-Fiction
A Year in the Valley • How the Aliens from Alpha Centauri
Invaded My Maths Class and Turned Me into a Writer
How to Guzzle Your Garden • The Book of Challenges
The Fascinating History of Your Lunch • To the Moon and Back
The Secret World of Wombats • How High Can a Kangaroo Hop?
Let the Land Speak: How the Land Created Our Nation
I Spy a Great Reader
Miss Lily Series
1. Miss Lily’s Lovely Ladies • 1.5. With Love from Miss Lily: A Christmas Story
2. The Lily and the Rose • 2.5. Christmas Lilies • 3. The Lily in the Snow
The Matilda Saga
1. A Waltz for Matilda • 2. The Girl from Snowy River
3. The Road to Gundagai • 4. To Love a Sunburnt Country
5. The Ghost by the Billabong • 6. If Blood Should Stain the Wattle
7. Facing the Flame • 8. The Last Dingo Summer
Shakespeare Series
I am Juliet • Ophelia: Queen of Denmark
The Diary of William Shakespeare, Gentleman • Third Witch
The Animal Stars Series
The Goat Who Sailed the World • The Dog Who Loved a Queen
The Camel Who Crossed Australia • The Donkey Who Carried the Wounded
The Horse Who Bit a Bushranger
Dingo: The Dog Who Conquered a Continent
The Secret Histories Series
1. Birrung the Secret Friend • 2. Barney and the Secret of the Whales
3. The Secret of the Black Bushranger
4. Barney and the Secret of the French Spies
Outlands Trilogy
In the Blood • Blood Moon • Flesh and Blood
School for Heroes Series
Lessons for a Werewolf Warrior • Dance of the Deadly Dinosaurs
Wacky Families Series
1. My Dog the Dinosaur • 2. My Mum the Pirate
3. My Dad the Dragon • 4. My Uncle Gus the Garden Gnome
5. My Uncle Wal the Werewolf • 6. My Gran the Gorilla
7. My Auntie Chook the Vampire Chicken • 8. My Pa the Polar Bear
Phredde Series
1. A Phaery Named Phredde • 2. Phredde and a Frog Named Bruce
3. Phredde and the Zombie Librarian • 4. Phredde and the Temple of Gloom
5. Phredde and the Leopard-Skin Librarian
6. Phredde and the Purple Pyramid • 7. Phredde and the Vampire Footy Team
8. Phredde and the Ghostly Underpants
Picture Books
Diary of a Wombat (with Bruce Whatley)
Pete the Sheep (with Bruce Whatley)
Josephine Wants to Dance (with Bruce Whatley)
The Shaggy Gully Times (with Bruce Whatley)
Emily and the Big Bad Bunyip (with Bruce Whatley)
Baby Wombat’s Week (with Bruce Whatley)
The Tomorrow Book (with Sue deGennaro)
Queen Victoria’s Underpants (with Bruce Whatley)
Christmas Wombat (with Bruce Whatley)
A Day to Remember (with Mark Wilson)
Queen Victoria’s Christmas (with Bruce Whatley)
Dinosaurs Love Cheese (with Nina Rycroft)
Wombat Goes to School (with Bruce Whatley)
The Hairy-Nosed Wombats Find a New Home (with Sue deGennaro)
Good Dog Hank (with Nina Rycroft)
The Beach They Called Gallipoli (with Bruce Whatley)
Wombat Wins (with Bruce Whatley)
Grandma Wombat (with Bruce Whatley)
Millie Loves Ants (with Sue deGennaro)
Koala Bare (with Matt Shanks)
Dippy’s Big Day Out (with Bruce Whatley; concept by Ben Smith Whatley)
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Angus&Robertson
An imprint of HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, Australia
First published in Australia in 2019
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
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Text copyright © Jackie French 2019
Illustrations copyright © Mark Wilson 2019
The rights of Jackie French and Mark Wilson to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work have bee
n asserted by them under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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The Secret of the Youngest Rebel Page 7
