John Fitzgerald, Deaf Convict
Curator Breda Carty introduces John Fitzgerald, a deaf convict who was transported to Australia in 1818.
1818
“… the prisoner made a motion with his hand, which made me conclude that he was deaf and dumb. One of the other men… made some motion to the prisoner, and sparred at him.”
1818
Here we can see that the deaf convict John Fitzgerald used an interpreter at his trial in London in 1818. Fitzgerald arrived in Australia in 1819 – one of the earliest signing deaf people from Europe.
1819
This is a page from the Shipping Indent – the record of all the convicts who came off the ship Baring (2 – second voyage) in 1819. It lists each convict’s name, and information about their trial, sentence, where they were from, their age, trade and appearance. Scroll down to find John Fitzgerald’s entry. There is less information listed for him – we wonder why?
1819
1822
John Fitzgerald sent this letter to the Governor of NSW to ask for a Ticket of Leave. He asked the Governor to take into account his “unfortunate Case of being Deaf and Dumb”, adding that he was “well able to support himself at his Trade as Shoemaker”. His appeal was not successful.
John Fitzgerald was sent to work in a Chain Gang in 1828 – this was probably a punishment for some kind of bad behaviour. He was part of Chain Gang No. 4, working on building the Great North Road from Sydney to the Hunter Valley. We can still see evidence of the hard work they had to do, cutting and transporting stone. The supervisor of the work was engineer Mr Percy Simpson.
Chain Gang Work
1831
In September 1831, the NSW Government Gazette listed John Fitzgerald as having absconded from Mr Percy Simpson. He was caught, punished and sent back.
1843
John Fitzgerald finally obtained a Ticket of Leave. He had to stay in the district of Patrick’s Plains (present-day Singleton), and report to the police regularly, but he had more freedom and could work for himself.
1848
John Fitzgerald received a Conditional Pardon in 1848, almost 30 years after he had arrived in Sydney. He had to stay in New South Wales, and could not return to Britain or Ireland. But apart from that, he was finally free.
We have not been able to find any more information about John Fitzgerald’s life after his Conditional Pardon. Where he lived, what work he did, when he died, where he is buried – all are unknown.
Let us know if you find out more!
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The Mystery of John Fitzgerald’s Grave
John Fitzgerald appeared at the Old Bailey in London in September 1818, accused of “feloniously assaulting” a man in company with two others, and stealing from him a watch, three seals and a key.
