Francis MacNamara Timeline

Robert Russell c 1837: Phoenix Hulk moored at entrance Billy Blue's Bay [Lavender Bay]
Courtesy National Library of Australia

• 1811 Francis MacNamara born in Cashel Tipperary ( or Wicklow, or Cork) in the first half of the year.
• 14 January 1832 sentenced to 7 years transportation
• 18 January 1832 MacNamara's use of poetry in court reported in the Kilkenny Journal
• 10 May 1832, age 21, sailed from Cork on the prison ship Eliza II, trade described as Miner. Among his fellow prisoners for the journey were 43 Whiteboys
• 18 June 12 Lashes - 'Poet on the Eliza' Bob Reece
• 8 September 1832 arrived in Sydney, assigned as servant to John Jones of Sydney
• 3 January 1833 sentenced to 6 months gaol served in an ironed-gang on Goat Island in Sydney Harbour
• 17 June 1833 Macnamara Francis, Eliza, from Ditto 'Runaways Apprehended' (Sydney Gazette p. 1.)
• 27 May 1833 returned to Hyde Park Barracks
• June 1833 absconded and recaptured and sentenced to flogging, on 24 June received 50 lashes
• 1 July 1833 sentenced to a month on the treadmill for disobedience
• Absconded again recaptured and on 24 August 1833 was sentenced to 12 month in irons
• 3 September 1833 sent to Phoenix Hulk on Sydney Harbour to serve his sentence
• 1 February 1834 flogged with 25 lashes for having a stolen shirt
• 3 March 1834 75 lashes for insubordinate conduct
• 25 August returned to Hyde Park Barracks
• 26 January 1835 3 days in the cells (solitary confinement) for being absent from duty
• 18 February 1835 25 lashes for disobeying orders
• 9 March 1835 100 lashes for obscene language
• 16 April 1835 12 months in irons
• 16 May 1835 36 lashes for insolence
• 8 June 1835 50 lashes for threatening language
• 8 August 1835 75 lashes for destroying a government cart
• 14 December 1835 50 lashes for refusing to work
• 16 March 1836 sent to Phoenix Hulk
• 25 March 1836 25 lashes for neglect of work
• 15 August 1836 10 days in the cells for being found drunk
• March 1837 2 months on treadmill for absconding
• 25 March 1837 refused to mount treadmill 50 lashes
• May 1837 returns to Phoenix Hulk
• 31 December 1837 presence on Phoenix recorded in muster for the census
• 1838 assigned to Australian Agricultural Company as shepherd on the Peel River and then Stroud till October 1839
• 23 October 1839 Trimingham manuscript written containing 4 poems: A Convict's Tour To Hell, A Petition from the Chain Gang at Newcastle, A Petition in Behalf of the Flocks and For the Company Underground
• 1 November 1839 Newcastle Gaol - sentenced 12 months in an Ironed Gang
• 9 November 1839 Forwarded to Sydney
• 5 December 1839 Discharged from Wooloomooloo Stockade sent to Parramatta Gaol
• 7 December 1839 Disposed of to Stockade Parramatta
• 4 January 1840 50 lashes for mutinous conduct
• 8 February 1840 A Dialogue Between Two Hibernians in Botany Bay published in the Sydney Gazette under the name Francis MacNamara
• 30 May 1842 captured by sergeant Michael Doyle at the foot of Razorback: Francis McNamara, per Elisa; John Jones, per Lady Macnaughton; Edward Allen, per Asia; William Thomson, per do; William Eastwood, per Patriot. Capture of Bushrangers reported in Sydney Gazette 2 June
• 6 June 1842 Admitted to Sydney Gaol
• 8 July 1842 tried at Assizes of Sydney for being at large with fire arms on his person and sentenced to be transported to Van Diemen's Land for Life
• 11 July 1842 three month stay on Cockatoo Island awaiting transportation to Van Diemen's Land
• 14 October 1842 departs Sydney with 24 other prisoners for Van Diemen's Land
• 29 Oct 1842 arrival in Hobart per Waterlily
• 25 December 1842 meets bushranger Martin Cash in Port Arthur, entertains prisoners with his verse beginning with his introductory "crow"
• 25 Sept 1843 seven days solitary confinement for disobeying orders
• January 1847 receives ticket-of-leave
• September 1847 receives conditional pardon
• 1 January 1848 name appears in Launceston Census?
• 21 July 1849 gains Certificate of Freedom
• 8 September 1853 reported in the Sydney Morning Herald as working with a party of gold miners at Tambaroora, Hill End NSW
• 1 March 1861 calligraphic work on Calf Family Record near Mudgee NSW
• 29 August 1861 death in Mudgee NSW
• 18 June 1862 Article with local stories about Frank the Poet at Meroo in the Bathurst Free Press
• 7 October 1865 Article about Frank the Poet extemporising verse in 1835 in Sydney Police Court in the Bunyip
• 24 December 1881 attribution of "Travellers Welcome"song to Frank the Poet in the South Australian Weekly Chronicle
• Frank the Poet mentioned by Owen Suffolk in his autobiography Days of Crime and Years of Suffering serialised in the Australasian newspaper (1867) reprinted by the Gippsland Times (1898)
• 1885 First publication of 'A Convict's Tour to Hell', in a booklet titled 'The Song of Ninian Melville' a poem by Henry Kendall
• 27 December 1900 A Convict's Tour to Hell: published in the Cumberland Times 
• 1 January 1892 Victoria Museum - Frank the Poet exhibit, an example of his penmanship
• 28 January 1893 Convict's Tour to Hell: cited by Telemachus in the Oakleigh Leader 
• 7 September 1900 in the Western Champion (Parkes, NSW) 
• 12 December 1900 "Martin Cash" play includes Frank the poet as a character. 
• 22 August 1903 attribution of 'The Poor Exile from the Shamrock Shore' in the Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal 

Francis MacNamara's Convict Record

MacNamara's hand written Tasmanian record reads:

2558 McNamara Francis Eliza (2) and Waterlily 29 Oct 1842

Extracts from Sydney Records Arrived 8 Sept 1832 was tried at Killkenny 15 February 1832 for Stealing Sentd. 7 Years 24 June 1833 50 Lashes absconding from duty 1 July 1833 1 month TreadWheels disgraceful conduct August 1833 12 months Irons absconding 2 times 1 February 1834 23 Lashes for having stolen shirt 3 March 1834 75 Lashes Insubordinate Conduct January 26 1835 3 days of Cells absent from duty 18 February 1835 25 Lashes disobedience of orders 9 March 1835 100 Lashes obscene Language 15 April 1835 12 Months Irons assaulting a Constable May 16 1835 36 Lashes refusing to work & insolence 8 June 1835 50 Lashes Threatening language 8 August 1835 70 Lashes destroying Govt property 31 Oct 1835 36 Lashes destroying a Govt Cart 14 Dec 1835 50 Lashes refusing to work 26 March 1836 25 Lashes neglect of work 15 August 1836 10 days Cells found drunk 4 January 1840 50 Lashes Mutinous Conduct was again tried at the Assizes of Sydney on the 8 July 1842 for being at large with fire arms on his person and sentenced to be transported for Life Single Roman Catholic 25 Sept 1843 pwl Disobedce of Orders 7 days solitary confinement

[ Original online - Archives Office of Tasmania – digitised record Item: CON31-1-32 ]

Notes

The floggings carefully recorded above show that in his first ten years in New South Wales MacNamara received a total of 590 lashes in 12 separate floggings.

Joseph Lycett : Hyde Park Barracks (Frank the Poet 'did time' here)
Courtesy National Library of Australia

On receiving sentence in Kilkenny MacNamara responded with an epigram

I dread not the dangers by land or by sea

That I'll meet on my voyage to Botany Bay

My labours are over, my vocation is past

And 'tis I'll rest easy, and happy at last

He certainly didn't envisage what was in store for him for the next decade! He was originally transported for seven years for stealing a piece of plaid, ten years later, having suffered from the brutal treatment enumerated above he was then transported for life to Van Diemen's Land. This second sentence was commuted to ten years then to seven and, after he gained his freedom (1849) he left Launceston for Portland.