Patriot Realm

The Castle Hill Rebellion, also known as the Second Battle of Vinegar Hill, occurred on March 4th and 5th, 1804, in New South Wales, Australia. It was a pivotal moment in Australia's early colonial history, driven by a mix of political unrest, social inequality, and the desire for freedom among the oppressed convicts and Irish political prisoners.

The catalyst for the rebellion was the oppressive conditions endured by convicts and the lack of rights they faced under British rule. Many convicts were transported to Australia for petty crimes, yet they were subjected to harsh treatment, limited freedoms, and forced labor. Additionally, Irish political prisoners, who were often leaders in rebellion, added fuel to the growing discontent.

Under the leadership of William Johnston, a former Irish rebel, and Philip Cunningham, a convict, a plan to overthrow British authority was devised. The rebels aimed to seize control of key locations, including Parramatta and Sydney, and establish a free settlement.

Led by veterans of the United Irish Rebellion of 1798, the poorly armed insurgents confronted the colonial forces of Australia on 5 March 1804 at Rouse Hill. Their rout in the resulting skirmish was hailed by loyalists as Australia's Vinegar Hill after the 1798 Irish Battle of Vinegar Hill, where rebels in Ireland were decisively defeated. 

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen. First formed in Belfast by Presbyterians opposed to the landed Anglican establishment, the Society, despairing of reform, sought to secure a republic through a revolutionary union with the country's Catholic majority. The grievances of a rack-rented tenantry drove recruitment. ( Rack renting  is a term of protest used to denote an unjustly excessive rent ... In Ulster in the 1700s, "... landlords were able to 'auction off' leases to the highest bidders. That practice, known as 'rack renting', forced renters to bid more than they could afford to pay)

The Battle of Vinegar Hill was a military engagement during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 on 21 June 1798 between a force of approximately 13,000 government troops and 16,000 United Irishmen rebels. The battle, a major rebel defeat, took place on 21 June 1798 on a large rebel camp on Vinegar Hill and in the streets of Enniscorthy, County Wexford and marked the last major attempt by the rebels to hold and control territory taken in Wexford. 

But, back to Australia. 

On 4 March 1804, 233 convicts, led by Philip Cunningham, a veteran of the 1798 rebellion, as well as a mutineer on the convict transport ship Anne, escaped from a prison farm, intent on "capturing ships to sail to Ireland". In response, martial law was quickly declared in the colony. The mostly Irish rebels gathered reinforcements. 

Many convicts in the Castle Hill area were veterans of the United Irish movement and of the rebellion it had instigated in Ireland in the summer of 1798. From late 1799, they were transported as exiles-without-trial to the Colony of New South Wales. In September 1800, an Irish conspiracy was uncovered. The rebels planned to meet at and take Parramatta, and then before daylight take the Barracks at Sydney. Afterwards they planned to live on settlers farms, until they heard from France, where they had intended to dispatch a ship.

Early in 1804, after news arrived of an attempted rising in Dublin the previous July, a similar conspiracy formed. Phillip Cunningham, a veteran of the rebellion of 1798, and William Johnston, another Irish convict at Castle Hill, planned an uprising. Over 685 Castle Hill convicts intended to join with nearly 1,100 convicts from the Hawkesbury River area, rally at Constitution Hill, and march on Parramatta and then Sydney Port Jackson itself. According to one witness, their goal was to establish Irish rule in the colony and obtain ships for those that wanted to return to Ireland to help revive the failed Irish Rebellion of 1803.

At 8 o'clock on the evening of 4 March 1804, John Cavenah set fire to his hut at Castle Hill as the signal for the rebellion to begin. While the fire was not seen by the convicts at Green Hills, today's Windsor, on the Hawkesbury River, Cunningham activated the plan to gather weapons, ammunition, food and recruits from local supporters and the government farm at Castle Hill. With Cunningham leading, about 200 to 300 rebels broke into the Government Farm's buildings, taking firearms, ammunition, and other weapons.

The constables and overseers were overpowered and the rebels then went from farm to farm on their way to Constitution Hill at Parramatta, seizing more weapons and supplies, including rum and spirits, and recruiting others to fight their cause. Their move had been informed by the intelligence gathered a year previously, when 12 convicts escaped from Castle Hill, seeking out friends and sympathisers in the surrounding districts. 

However, British authorities were alerted to the rebellion, and Governor Philip Gidley King swiftly mobilised troops, led by Major Johnson, to suppress the uprising. The incident was the first major convict uprising in Australian history to be suppressed under martial law; the proclamation of martial law applied to a wide area, extending from Castle Hill to the Hawkesbury and Nepean areas, and empowered citizens in the area to detain those who lacked the appropriate passes. A curfew had also been enacted and an amnesty declared, which gave those who were involved 24 hours to surrender. 

Major Johnston's contingent, wearied by their night march, needed time to close in on the retreating rebels, who were reported to number around 400 so, to implement delaying tactics, he rode after them with a small mounted party, while the rest of his party completed the 4 miles (6.4 km) march to Toongabbie. Initially, it was believed that the rebels were at Toongabbie, but on his arrival, Johnston was informed that they had moved to Constitution Hill. A small party under a corporal was sent to outflank that position, while an assault force of around a dozen men advanced on the summit, only to find it abandoned, with the rebels having moved off towards the Hawkesbury, about 17 miles (27 km) away.

As the morning progressed, the heat of the day threatened to stymie the efforts of the marching troops who were poorly equipped for the pursuit. About 6 miles (9.7 km) from Toongabbie, Johnston located the main rebel party of around 230 to 260 men near Rouse Hill, Johnston first sent a mounted trooper on to call the rebels to give up and benefit from the Governor's amnesty for early surrender. That having failed, he dispatched a Roman Catholic priest, Father James Dixon, to appeal to them. He then rode up himself, and got their agreement to hear Father Dixon again.

Meanwhile, the pursuing forces had closed in and Major Johnston, with Trooper Thomas Anlezark, from the Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse, approached them again to parley, calling the leaders Cunningham and William Johnston down from the hill. Demanding their surrender, he received the response "Death or Liberty" from Cunningham, to which some were reported to have added "and a ship to take us home". 

With the NSW Corps and militia formed up in firing lines behind Major Johnston, he and Trooper Anlezark produced pistols, while negotiating under truce, duping the two leaders of the uprising, and escorting them back to the soldiers' lines. On being given the order to engage, Quartermaster Sergeant Thomas Laycock directed more than fifteen minutes of musket fire at the rebel lines and then charged, cutting Cunningham down with his cutlass. The now-leaderless rebels tried to fire back, but then broke and dispersed.

According to official reports, at least fifteen rebels fell during the battle. Several convicts were captured and an unknown number killed in the ensuing pursuit of the rebels, which continued until late in the night, with newly arrived soldiers from Sydney joining in the search. It was reported that gun shots could be heard up to a fortnight later, such was the settling of old scores. On Wednesday, 7 March, Governor King announced that those who surrendered before 10 March would receive leniency and, following that, large parties who lost their way in the night turned themselves in under the amnesty, or made their way back to Castle Hill, where a large party of about 70, led by Samuel Humes, was captured by a detachment of the Loyal Parramatta Association.

The Battle of Vinegar Hill:

Following the defeat at Castle Hill, surviving rebels retreated to Vinegar Hill, a nearby area known for its Irish settlement. Here, they made their last stand against the advancing British forces on March 5th, 1804. 

The battle was fierce, with both sides suffering casualties, but the rebels were ultimately overwhelmed.

The aftermath of the rebellion was brutal. Many rebels were captured, tried, and executed, while others faced transportation to even more remote penal colonies. The British government tightened its grip on the colony, implementing stricter measures to prevent further uprisings and maintain control over the burgeoning settlement.

It makes me wonder how far we have come since those days? Rebellion, during the Covid years, saw police take down innocent civilians.  We are now seeing Misinformation Laws about to pass through Australian parliament. 

The rights of Australian citizens have been stripped away. 

And, while we patriotic Australians fight for our rights, it seems to me that we are back where we started: a band of people, facing horrendous rents and interest rates; over zealous law enforcement and a government that seeks to oppress and bring down the freedom of speech and the freedom of will. 

As the fighting blood of our forebears is diluted and the great Aussie spirit is destroyed by mass immigration, MSM and laws that make no sense to normal people, I have to wonder if we will see more convicts trying to break free? For, in the scheme of things, are we not being turned into prisoners? Yet again? 224 years later? By the stranglehold of oppression, outrageous rents and overwhelming immigration? 

Are we not being punished for petty crimes, like sitting on a park bench or refusing a vaccination that has seen so many injured or worse? 

What, seriously, is different to convict Australia in 1804 and Australia in 2024? A couple of hundred years and a change of government? Oh, and the prisoners who are now you and me. The frightening difference is that today our fellow prisoners keep voting for the bastards that keep us in prison. 

Remember this, back in 2021?  And we didn't win, did we? 

The film clips featured are from Against the Wind , a 1978 Australian television miniseries. It is a historical drama portraying both the British rule of Ireland, and the development of New South Wales and Australia. Jon English won the Logie Award in 1979 for "Best New Talent" for his role in the miniseries as "Jonathan Garrett". It was the first major Australian TV production to be broadcast in the United States. 

Set during Australia's colonial era over the period 1798–1812, the series follows the life of Mary Mulvane, a daughter of an Irish school master. At 18, she is transported to New South Wales for a term of seven years after attempting to take back her family's milk cow which had been seized by the British "in lieu of tithes" to the local proctor. She endures the trial of a convict sea journey to New South Wales and years of service as a convict before her emancipation and life as a free citizen. During the journey out she makes a lifelong friend of fellow Irish convict, Polly, and in the course of the series we see their friendship continue, Polly's relationship and life with taverner Will Price develop, and Mary's relationship with Jonathan Garrett grows, leading to eventual marriage when both have served their term. Together they face the difficulties of establishing a farm and a young family in the new country, and must deal with the tyranny of the corrupt military running the colony. It is based on factual events of the Garrett Family (as stated in every episode) and the last episode recites what became of the Garretts: they had 5 children and now have many descendants.

 I have managed to find the complete series online and include the episodes in our Australiana section.  Click the link and the 12 episodes are all there. It was very hard to find. 

Here is the first one to whet your whistle.