On This Day in History: March 4

Australia's Castle Hill Rebellion

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In 1798 there was a “fuck those British fucks” rebellion in Ireland. The British won, with perhaps 50,000 Irish combatants and civilians killed in the process. Some of those involved in the rebellion were then shipped to penal colonies in Australia, where they rebelled again.

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: March 4, 1804--

I won’t say “rebelled for a second time,” because on the sailing over there was an attempted mutiny, but it was suppressed by the crew with one convict killed, several others wounded, one executed, and one subject to 250 lashes. That’s a lot of lashes.

One man, Philip Cunningham, was a veteran of all three uprisings. The ship landed in Botany Bay in modern-day Sydney, and after four years of forced labor Phil said fuck this bullshit and led the Castle Hill Rebellion. The plan was for there to be almost 2,000 convicts involved in the uprising to take over the colony and take command of ships, to allow anyone who wanted it the ability to sail home to Ireland. Beginning on March 4, 1804, that plan did not come to fruition. Cunningham began with a few hundred rebels breaking into government buildings to steal weapons and supplies, but there were traitors among the rebels, and the messengers sent to other convict regions to rise up were intercepted; the rebellion didn’t spread. Rather, martial law was quickly declared, and the British and local militia prepared their defenses.

It culminated in the Second Battle of Vinegar Hill the next day. Vinegar Hill was a nickname paying homage to the Battle of Vinegar Hill during the 1798 rebellion in Ireland. Leading a mere 232 convicts who proclaimed Cunningham “King of the Australian Empire,” whose reign would be short-lived, the convicts were deceived by British treachery.

Prior to the engagement of that ancient contest of large groups of men killing the shit out of each other, Cunningham and his fellow rebel leader Williams Johnston were called down from the hillock for a parley by a British Major, also named Johnston. With the major was Trooper Anlezark. As they met in a neutral area between the two forces, the major demanded their surrender. Cunningham replied with “Death or liberty.” So the major and the trooper violated the truce, pulled their pistols and marched the pair back to British lines.

Major Johnston ordered his troops to engage the now leaderless rebels. As the attack began, Sergeant Thomas Laycock said well one of the enemy is right fucking here, and slashed Cunningham with his cutlass. After volleys of fire and many dead and wounded the rebels were easily routed but Johnston showed a measure of mercy and called a ceasefire because they were still needed for forced labor.

Laycock’s sword had severely wounded Cunningham, but not killed him. Cunningham and eight other rebel leaders were hanged the next day without trial. Twenty-three other rebels were exiled to work in coal mines, while another seven got hundreds of lashes and sent to work on a chain gang. In 2004 the rebellion was re-enacted for its 200thanniversary.

Thanks, Clae, for the suggestion of today’s topic.

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