John & Bridget (née Whittaker) MADDEN

John and Bridget (Whittaker) Madden

Somerset, a Townland of 543 acres in the Civil Parish of Clontuskert,1 County Galway, Barony of Longford, in Ireland's Connaught Province, is believed to be where John Madden was living before arriving in Australia. Clontuskert is the modern spelling for other forms such as Clontwiskard, Clonethussket and Clonthryskett which appear on various maps and in an assortment of family related documents. The parish is situated on a tributary of the River Suck which itself is a branch of the Shannon River flowing out of Lough Derg. Clontuskert is derived from the Irish Cluain Tuaiscirt meaning northern meadow.

A few short weeks later, John Madden sailed from the port of Cork on 5 May 1820 onboard the convict ship4. Dorothy, sailing via Rio de Janeiro. John Hargraves, the Master and Robert Espie, the Surgeon were in command of the Dorothy, a ship of 416 tons, which was built in Liverpool, five years earlier. One hundred and ninety male convicts embarked on the journey to the penal colony of New South Wales. Remarkably, there was no loss of life at sea and a full complement disembarked when the ship arrived at Port Jackson5 on 19 September 1820 - 137 days at sea later. 

To The Colony of New South Wales In Australia

And so begins the Australian chapter of our Irish heritage. According to official records6, John Madden was a shoemaker (a brogue maker). He was 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) tall, of sallow complexion, having dark to greying hair, hazel coloured eyes and a scar over his left eyebrow.

Every convict arriving in the colony faced the same social prospects. S/he served the Crown or some private person, on the Crown's behalf, for a given span of years. Then came a pardon or a ticket-of-leave, either of which permitted him/her to sell his/her labour freely and choose his/her place of work7. When Hyde Park Barracks was opened in 1819, Governor Lachlan Macquarie intended that it hold all prisoners working for the government in Sydney Town. But even by 1820, owing to the increased numbers of transportees, the barracks were inadequate to house all prisoners. Records show that some prisoners arriving off the Dorothy were assigned to work at places such as Liverpool, Evans, Airds and Emu Plains. Five other men were sent on to Tasmania. But it would seem that John Madden was barracked at Hyde Park and this suggestion is strengthened by the appearance of his name on the victualling list of 1821 with 1½ rations. Macquarie made a point of reserving the labour of "mechanics"8 for the government, and convicts who were enticed into staying in the barracks were rewarded with the promise of extra rations.

Commissioner Bigge, sent to New South Wales to report on the state of the colony to Foreign Secretary, Bathurst, was critical of the policy of retaining "mechanics" (skilled convicts such as carpenters or stonemasons) in government service, as was Macquarie's successor, Brisbane. Both men were influenced by powerful members of the free citizenry, including John Macarthur of merino sheep fame, who wanted the services of skilled convicts for their own purposes. Consequentially,  soon after arrival in December 1821, Governor Brisbane took action to rid the government stores of as many convicts as possible by assigning them to settlers (an early form of privatisation?), or by employing them on public works. This may then explain why John Madden was found in the 1822 muster (where his name was erroneously listed as Wadden) as a member of Colonel Erskine's clearing party near Parramatta. Erskine had been granted land in the Parish of Melville in the suburb of Erskine Park. On 25 March 1822, he made an application for a clearing party for his property9 and on 20 April he was granted authority to select 22 convicts from Thomson's road gang10. There is reason to believe that John Madden was one of those 22 convicts.

A statement in John Madden's petition to be reunited with his wife and family implied that John was assigned11 in May 1822 to the Rev. Thomas Reddall, first Anglican clergyman and magistrate for the district of Airds. The Rev. Reddall arrived in 1820 and quickly established a reputation as an educationalist. He continued this work in Campbelltown where he founded a boarding school for sons of the principal citizens of the colony. About this time, the Rev. Reddall leased Smeeton, a 30-acre farm owned by Charles Throsby. He remained there until his private residence Glen Alpine was completed in 1830. A little more than a century and a half was to pass before Smeeton became incorporated c1990 as part of The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan and today Glen Alpine forms a focal point on the Campbelltown golf course.

John's good behaviour earned him the privilege of a Ticket-of-Leave (TOL No. [18]31/253) which, on the recommendation of the Airds Bench, was granted on 22 June 1831. This step was the first on the road to freedom. Four years later, on 16 November 1835, John petitioned12 His Excellency, Major General Sir Richard Bourke, KCB, Governor and Commander in Chief, to be "re-united to the Family from which he was separated at the Time of Transportation".

John Is Joined By His Family

Subsequently, John's sons Patrick and John embarked on the Elphinstone, a convict ship which left Kingstown Harbour, Dublin on 8 September 1838 bound for New South Wales. Bridget, his wife, sailed from Dublin one week earlier aboard the Margaret but, according to shipping records, daughter, Mary, by this time, had already died.

Patrick and John arrived at Port Jackson on 29 December 1838 after 112 days at sea followed by their mother one week later on 5 January 1839 after 126 days. All three arrived as free settlers and were reunited with John in Campbelltown shortly after the granting of a Conditional Pardon (No. 39/97) on 10 January 1839. Patrick married Margaret O'Brien on 7 May 1857 while John (Jnr) married Margaret Givnan at St John the Evangelist Catholic Church, George Street, Campbelltown,  in 1844.

John (Snr) and Bridget lived at Madden's Hill on Menangle Road in the District of Airds on land which, today, is in the vicinity of the Sydney Water Supply Channel, north of the Sugarloaf Tunnel, Campbelltown13. The land contained about ¾ acre and was purchased circa 1834 from Paul Huon, owner of Portion 37, Parish of Menangle, County of Cumberland, which included Sugarloaf Hill (now known as Menangle  Sugarloaf).

On the eve of his death, John (Snr) made a Will. Unable to read or write, John executed the document by placing "his X Mark" on the appropriate line. John died on 12 February 1851 leaving his real property of "three-quarters of an acre, more or less" and a few, but no doubt, humble and treasured possessions of "one mare and colt and filly, one cow and one calf & one cart" to his "dearly beloved wife Bridget".

Patrick Madden, the elder son, died on 15 April 1863.

Bridget lived until 1 November 1867. All three were buried in Campbelltown's old St John the Evangelist  churchyard on George Street.