HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT IND 172 September 2024 | Page 10

HAWKESBURY HISTORY

with Michelle Nichols & Jonathan Auld

The Radical Rising - the Scottish Insurrection of 1820

In the past , only a small percentage of convicts sent to Australia , arrived from Scotland . Scotland ’ s legal system had fewer capital offences and punishments compared to other countries . In 1821 , a number of political convicts arrived in Sydney due to discontent in Scotland . One of these convicts went on and became a respected community member in the Hawkesbury .

In nineteenth century Scotland , unemployment , high costs of living and unfair working conditions led to disillusioned skilled workers seeking reform . Events such as the 1776 American Revolution and the 1789 French Revolution also advocated reform and motivated some of the earliest political convicts , The Scottish Martyrs , who were transported to Australia in the mid-1790s .

In 1820 a group of activists planned a rebellion during an industrial uprising in Scotland ’ s Bonnymuir . The insurrection included skilled workers such as weavers , shoemakers , and blacksmiths . They initiated a series of strikes with social unrest and sought government reform and change . However , it was all short-lived as the militants were not prepared for the military ’ s forceful reaction .

Name Occupation Sentence John Anderson Weaver Life John Barr Weaver 14 years William Clackson Shoemaker 14 years James Clelland Blacksmith Life Andrew Dawson Nailer Life Robert Gray Weaver Life Alexander Hart Cabinetmaker 14 years Alexander Johnston Weaver 14 years Alexander Latimer Weaver 14 years Thomas McCulloch Stocking Weaver 14 years Thomas McFarlane Weaver Life John McMillan Nailer Life Benjamin Moir Labourer 14 years Allan Murchie Blacksmith Life Thomas Pike or Pink Muslin Slinger 14 years William Smith Weaver 14 years David Thompson Weaver 14 years Andrew White Bookbinder 14 years James Wright Tailor 14 years

As a result , a number of men were captured , with twenty-two convictions made . Eventually nineteen of these were charged with treason and sentenced to death , one man William Crawford , was freed . John Baird and Andrew Hardie , classified as the leaders , were executed several months later , just a week after another rebel , James Wilson was hanged and beheaded . The remaining nineteen artisans had their sentences commuted to transportation and became known as the Scottish Radicals .

One of the radicals sentenced at Stirling was weaver , John Anderson , the son of John Anderson and Janet Stean , born in the 1790s at Camelon near Falkirk in Stirling . At the time , John Anderson resided at St Ninians . He supported the uprising by putting up political posters and for the insurrection , he pleaded guilty to the offence of high treason and was sentenced to life .

The activists were taken to Edinburgh and kept on a prison hulk until their departure . They travelled with other activists on the Speke which arrived in Sydney in 1821 . The convict indent described John as short of stature , 161cm high , with brown hair and hazel eyes .

Shortly after his arrival , John was employed by the emancipated convict and entrepreneur , Simeon Lord . Another of the radicals , Thomas McCulloch , wrote a letter to his wife following his arrival , encouraging her to apply as a free settler . He wrote , “ This is a fine country , and will grow anything that will grow in any other country , and in general have three crops a year .”

John was employed by Lord until 1823 when he found employment as a teacher at Ebenezer Church , on the Hawkesbury River . Whilst growing up , John had been given a reasonable education at the local parish school , he could read and wrote a refined copperplate .

Classes had been conducted for the local children at Ebenezer shortly after the church opened in 1809 . Lessons were conducted in one half of the church and a separate residence was built next to the church for the schoolmaster .

Back in Scotland in the 1830s , it was discovered that government spies played a big role in the uprising and the Reform Bill was passed in 1832 . William IV also granted absolute pardon to the rebels and in 1835 when the insurgents received an absolute pardon . Details of this were published in the Sydney Gazette in 1836 , stating a despatch had been received outlining John Anderson ’ s absolution .

In 1834 John ’ s sister , Mrs Christiana Stephenson , arrived from Scotland and joined him at the Hawkesbury . With his sister acting as housekeeper , several students were able to board at the school . The “ chapel was partitioned and at one end had an upper floor where Mrs Stephenson and the girls were quartered .”

Some of the boys that boarded at Ebenezer remembered sleeping on the floor as there were no beds . It was recorded that Anderson was a “ burning and shining light of scholarship on the Hawkesbury for many years ” and some of his pupils went on to fill

John Anderson ’ s Certificate of Freedom . [ Courtesy State Records ] important positions . Mrs Stephenson stayed with her brother for about ten years before moving to Port Macquarie where she kept house for the Wilson family . She died in 1868 , with the newspapers recording her as “ an old and faithful servant .”

John had a fair knowledge of music and acted as Ebenezer ’ s precentor , the person who led the congregation in its singing at the church . When he was in his early sixties , John married Lucy Watson at Ebenezer in 1854 . Lucy was the daughter of shipwright James Watson and was a much younger woman .

After devoting himself to teaching at Ebenezer for thirtyfour years Anderson retired in 1855 . A well-liked member of the community , he was held in high regard and was given a presentation and a purse of twenty-eight sovereigns as part of his retirement . Aged sixty-five , John Anderson died at Ebenezer in 1858 . His death notice proudly stated his participation in the political uprising . He is buried in the Ebenezer churchyard where his wife erected a fitting headstone to his memory . Fittingly , a monument was constructed at Bonnymuir in Scotland in memory of those who fought for their democratic right .

The grave of John Anderson , Ebenezer Church . [ Photo : Jonathan Auld ]

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10 ISSUE 172 // SEPTEMBER 2024 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT