Richard Viney

John and Ann Viney, baptised their son Richard, at Ugborough, Devon, on 6th December 1812. [1]

On the last day of 1833, the 31st December, Richard Viney appeared before the Devonshire Gaol Quarter Sessions, convicted of Larceny of Wearing Apparel, sentenced to Seven years and to be transported to New South Wales on the Surrey. [2] Some documents also list the ship Surrey as Surry or Surrey (7). [3] Prior to transportation, 21yr old Richard was held on the Captivity hulk (C2040) then on the Leviathan hulk (475) from which he was disposed of to New South Wales during April 1834; both hulks being anchored in Portsmouth harbour. [4 ] Richard, a literate Groom and Paper Maker, stood 5’8” tall, fair ruddy complexion, light brown hair, hazel grey eyes and little finger of right hand, second toe of right foot, and third toe of left foot were all contracted. [5]

Onboard the hulks with restricted ventilation and cramped quarters, life became rigorous and demeaning with severely administered discipline an everyday occurrence. Food was devoid of nutritional value which ensured the prisoner felt weaker than during life prior to conviction making it increasingly difficult to perform work.

Whilst Richard awaits transfer from the Leviathan hulk to the transport ship Surrey and with the end of winter months nigh, an English tabloid on 14th April 1834 reported that the Surrey, Master Charles Kemp, with 260 convicts, under Mr. John Smith, Surgeon, R.N. is expected to sail tomorrow. [6] Parliament was informed by Lord Howick that the convict ship sailed from Plymouth. [7]

The ship’s log reveals that during the voyage, the men were to exercise as much as possible, take part daily in play acting, marching and ‘sky-larking’. [8] Attending to the cleanliness of between decks of the ship and that meals were properly cooked were both important duties. [9] Allowances of lemon juice and sugar were increased to combat Scurvy, with the outcome that only a few cases of the disease and Diarrhoea occurred, and of which Richard was not treated for either illness. [10] The Surrey landed all on board according to Surgeon Superintendent John Smith’s log. [11] Picking oakum, knitting socks and the sewing of jackets and trousers were necessary activities with some allowed interaction with the workings of the ship. [12]

The four-month long voyage of the Surrey terminated on 17th August 1834 in Port Jackson. [13]

By December 1834, Richard had been transferred from the transport ship Surry to the Phoenix hulk in Sydney Harbour. [14] He was assigned to the private service of Mr. Fras. Wallace of Wallace & Co, soap-makers of Sydney. [15] Seven boxes of butter were stolen by Richard and an accomplice from Messrs. Wallace and Co, in January 1835. [16] A Colonial Court conviction results in his transfer to Moreton Bay on 19th April 1835. [17]

Shipping to Moreton Bay navigated the hazardous waters between Amity Point, North Stradbroke Island and Moreton Island. Because of this perilous crossing, the Amity Pilot station was removed to the north end of Moreton Island in later years. [18]

The Moreton Bay Penal Settlement with its’ brick Prisoner Barracks was located upstream of the Brisbane River mouth on the western fringe of the Bay. [19] Larceny, it seemed, was Richard’s downfall; receiving 50 lashes in 1836 for stealing Maize Meal and 25 lashes for stealth of ‘cake’ from Barracks in 1837. [20] Moreton Bay General Hospital admitted Richard as a patient in Sept 1837 and March 1839. [21] Would the mental and physical scarring of 75 lashes reform Richard into a model prisoner?

The treatment of Moreton Bay prisoners was reported as indescribably horrible, they were scantily provided and worked without any protection from the sun’s rays, no covering for their nakedness and wearing heavy leg-irons. [22]

The Limestone Hills outstation was located inland from Moreton Bay and it was sometime after the outstation’s 1827 beginnings that its’ convict lime-burners were joined by shepherds; the Brisbane and Bremer Rivers waters were used for river transport to reach Limestone Hills some 45 to 60 miles above Brisbane Town. [23] Captain Logan, soon after the Limestone Station was established, sent a small flock of sheep to graze. [24] The stock of one working bullock, eleven female calves and two male calves were sent to Limestone Hills in November 1828 forming the beginnings of the livestock herd in close proximity to the lime-burners kilns. [25] Five hundred oxen and some 10,000 sheep all looked well and healthy was the report of Foster Fyans, Moreton Bay Commandant 1835-1837 after an inspection of the Limestone herds. [26] It was to this out-station that Richard was transferred to work as a shepherd in 1835 and whether he was a sheep or livestock herder is unknown. [27]

The brick soldier’s cottage and the shepherd’s shelter nearby to stockyards were some distance apart, revealing that convict shepherds were mostly trustworthy, and could Richard now be without leg-irons? [28] His training as a Groom and his convict servitude as a shepherd surely destined him to work with livestock as is recorded in later life. [29]

Richard Viney, Surry (7), groom, on 19 June 1838, is found in Colonial Secretary’s Letters for Conditional Remission of Sentences of convicts transported to Moreton Bay. [30]

On 30th September 1839, Richard, an agricultural worker, was to be returned from Moreton Bay to Sydney Goal on 18th December on the Schooner Curlew, and from where he would join an ‘ironed gang’ at Woolloomooloo stockade. [31]

It was at Port Macquarie where Richard was issued with his Ticket of Leave dated December 1842 and Ticket of Leave Passport in September 1845 with a recommendation that he remain in the service of Mr. Rusden of New England. [32] It is unknown if Rev G K Rusden of East Maitland, or Mr. T G Rusden became Richard’s assigned master. [33]

At Maitland Gaol on 23rd February 1847, Richard, a free man, and a bullock team driver was admitted for trial for larceny committed at Patrick’s Plains; a not guilty verdict was returned on 14th April and Viney was released. [34] Richard Viney, son and brother, departed England as a condemned young man, serving out his seven years sentence with less law-breaking than others and destined never to return.

Richard died at Boorooma, Barwin [Barwon] River in the Parish of Walgett North, sometime prior to 12 May 1859; his total wealth was £9/8s/5d. [35] Whilst Richard rests at Wee Waa cemetery New South Wales, details are devoid of family names. [36]

Did Richard not want his parent’s names written into his ‘Archives of Shame’; or could the reason be that no one cared enough about the 48year-old lash-scarred ex-convict to know?