Nicholas Collins

The Story of Nicholas Collins, Convict
This is an imaginary story, but is based on the facts known about a real convict, Nicholas Collins. Source: Ipswich Heritage Education Kit - Unit 2 Convicts and Early Settlement.

My name is Nicholas Collins. I was born in Dublin in Ireland and when I grew up, I became a shoemaker. My life was hard because I did not earn much money, but I was happy enough.

Then one day, everything changed. A gentleman came into my shop and while he was tying on shoes, a silver coin fell out of his pocket. I knew I should have given it back to him, but instead I picked it up and put the coin in my own pocket.

The gentleman left my shop, but a few minutes later, he came back angrily with a policeman. He had noticed his money was missing. They made me turn out my pockets and there was his silver coin.

I was taken to prison and then to court, and the judge sentenced me to seven years transportation to Botany Bay. Seven years for just one silver coin! I hadn't been to school much and I didn't know where Botany Bay was, but some of the other convicts said it was on the other side of the world.

The day soon came when we had to leave. The guards put my name down in a list of convicts in a book. This is what they wrote about me: "Nicholas Collins, age 22, 5ft 5 inches tall, fresh freckled complexion, brown hair, hazel eyes, Roman Catholic religion."

Then they put me in a ship called "Prince Regent" and we sailed for months - it seemed for ever. When we reached Sydney, it was very strange to me - strange trees and strange animals. I worked there for five years without getting into trouble, but I hated it. I always wanted to go back home to Ireland. I did not even know if my mother and father were still alive.

My chance came when I was sent to work on a farm and I managed to run away into the bush and hide. The next night, I broke into a farmhouse and took some food and some money. For a week I hid away, then I went to the wharf to try to find a ship going back to England but the soldiers caught me.

I went into court again. The judge said he would teach me a lesson and sentenced me to three years at Moreton Bay.

This time, I knew where I was going. Everyone was terrified of going to Brisbane Town at Moreton Bay - they said it was a hell on earth. The man in charge was Captain Patrick Logan.

A small sailing ship took me up the coast from Sydney to Moreton Bay. One man wanted to jump over the side and drown himself. He knew Logan and said he would rather die than go to Brisbane Town.

When we arrived, I was taken to the blacksmith and leg irons were put on - a big metal ring was placed around each ankle and there was a chain between them.

I tried to walk bu the chain dragged along the ground and tripped me. The man next to me showed me how to put a string through the chain and hold it up. that way, I managed to walk.

I was in leg irons for nine months. Each morning, we were woken up at dawn and we went out to hoe the crops on the farm. We were allowed an hour for breakfast. When I arrived at Moreton Bay it was summer and we were allowed two hours for dinner, but in winter we were only allowed one hour. It was hard working in leg irons and the soldiers didn't let us stop.

I saw Logan order many poor men to be tied up and flogged for some small offence but I tried to keep out of trouble.

The soldiers must have noticed this. One day, a few months after the leg irons were taken off, a soldier called me and he said I was going to the Limestone Station because they thought I could be trusted.

I was taken down to the river where a boat was waiting. It was a wide, flat-bottomed boat with one big oar at the back which was used to steer. There were four sheep in the boat which were being taken up to Limestone and there was a supply of food for the convicts there - a small amount of meat and a gritty sort of flour that could be boiled up like porridge.

It was a pleasant trip up the river, the easiest few days I had spent for many years. The boat floated up the river like a raft and every minute took me further away from Captain Logan. Even the soldiers in charge of the boat started to talk to me as if I were a human being. It took two days to reach Limestone - not that there was much to see when we finally arrived.

There was a small wharf on the river bank and nearby was a brick house with a chimney - that was for the soldiers. We convicts slept in a slab hut further up the hill near the lime quarry.

Near the soldiers' house was a lime kiln. Working that kiln was hard work. We had to dig the limestone, then pull it down to the kiln on a sort of sled. Then we stacked the pieces of limestone rock into the kiln, threw in some branches and set it alight. When it had all burned, we raked out a white powder which was called quicklime, packed it in baskets and when the boat came each week, we loaded it.

Down in Brisbane Town, Logan was building a lot of brick buildings and he needed quicklime to mix with sand and make mortar to hold the bricks together.

Some convicts worked at the Plough Station, about a half-hour walk from where we were. The land around the lime quarry was rocky, so the farm was on the edge of Bundanba Creek where there was good soil. The farm grew corn and Logan had sent a bullock and a plough here for us to use.

A few other convicts at Limestone had it pretty easy, I thought. They just looked after the sheep which seemed to involve a lot of sitting down and doing nothing. I tried to swap over to being a shepherd but the soldiers soon realised I didn't know much about sheep.

I had two good friends at Limestone, George Carter and Michael Kain. When we talked at night, George said you could reach China if you kept walking north. We talked for weeks about this.

We decided to run away together. When we were given our week's rations, we bundled them up and slipped away one night.

It was November, the weather was very hot and I was soon exhausted - we never had enough food to eat so no-one was very strong. A few days after we left, a huge storm broke and while we were stumbling through the bush in the dark, I fell over. When I tried to walk, I couldn't.

George and Mike tried to help me, but it was no use. We were still too close to the settlement so I told my friends to go on alone. I never saw them again and I will never know what happened to them.

I stayed hidden for as long as I could, eating the small amount of food I had taken with me. When that ran out and I couldn't bear the hunger any longer, I hobbled back to the settlement and gave myself up.

Now I am back in the lime boat, floating down to Brisbane Town. I am frightened, because I will be flogged and put back in the chain gang.

I don't think I will ever manage to escape.