Dreaming of Amelia

by Jaclyn Moriarty

  The history of the troubles in Ireland is very complicated, and both sides have been guilty of inflicting atrocities on innocent civilians. In the Castle Hill Uprising, however, the only civilian injured was the flogging man — a couple of convicts beat him up. There was almost no property damage, and there were no casualties amongst the soldiers.

  In 1811, the stone barracks became Australia’s first ‘lunatic asylum’ — and there was an incident where inmates were sent out to chop wood, one using the opportunity to kill another. Like Tom, Maggie is an invented character — but there are stories of the wives and girlfriends of convicts getting themselves arrested so that they will be transported too; and one of the inhabitants of the Castle Hill Lunatic Asylum was a female Irish Rebel who was ‘sent mad’ by her journey here.

  In 1866, the barracks were demolished. Over time, buildings came and went from the site, and the exact location of the barracks was lost.

  In 2006, archaeologists uncovered the foundations of the lost stone barracks in the Castle Hill Heritage Park.

  Some of the books that Toby found most helpful in researching for his assignment (and that would give a more balanced and comprehensive account than he does) included: Lynette Ramsay Silver, The Battle of Vinegar Hill, Australia’s Irish Rebellion, 1804 (Doubleday, 1989); James G Symes, The Castle Hill Rebellion of 1804 (A Hills District Historical Society Publication, 1979; reprinted with additions 1981; supplement added, 1982; revised with further additions, June 1990); Watkin Tench, 1788, Comprising A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay and A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, edited and introduced by Tim Flannery (The Text Publishing Company, Melbourne, 1996; first published 1789 and 1793); Frank Crowley, A Documentary History of Australia, Volume 1, Colonial Australia, 1788-1840 (Thomas Nelson Australia Pty Ltd, 1980); Trevor McClaughlin (editor), Irish Women in Colonial Australia (Allen & Unwin, 1998); Patricia Clarke and Dale Spender (ed), Life Lines: Australian Women’s Letters and Diaries 1788 to 1840 (Allen & Unwin, 1992); Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, (ed. WB Yeats, 1888); Bill Wannan, The Folklore of the Irish in Australia (John Currey, O’Neil Publishers, 1980); Journal of George Hall, 1802 (Journal kept by George Hall on board the ship Coromandel, London to Sydney, departing on 12 February 1802, arriving 13 June); Memoirs of Joseph Holt, General of the Irish Rebels in 1798, edited by T Crofton Croker (Henry Colburn, Publisher, London, 1838); William Noah, Voyage to Sydney in the Ship Hillsborough, 1798–1799, and a Description of the Colony (Library of Australian History, 1978).

  Any errors are, of course, Toby’s.