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Phegan, John Joseph
Description
Unique IDPE-000056SurnamePheganGiven namesJohn JosephBirth dateBetween 1st January 1836 and 31st December 1837Birth date qualifiercircaPlace of birthHobart, Tasmania, AustraliaDeath date9th January 1867Death date qualifierexactPlace of deathJinden Station, Braidwood District, NSW, AustraliaBiographical abstractJohn Joseph Phegan was an Irish soldier who arrived in Tasmania in 1833. He moved to Sydney in 1857 and was appointed to the staff of the Council, along with his wife Catherine in the role of messenger and housekeeper respectively. Catherine died in 1860 and Phegan resigned his position in 1861 and left Sydney. He was murdered in 1867.Biographical noteBirth Date: c.1836/7 in Hobart, Tasmania
Death date: 9 January 1867, Jinden Station, Braidwood District NSW
Family background in Tasmania
John Joseph Phegan was the third son of Andrew Phegan who was born in Ireland c1809 and came to Hobart Town, Tasmania, for garrison duties as a private in the 21st regiment, arriving on ‘Lord Lyndoch’ on 10 December 1833. Andrew Phegan continued in the army in Tasmania being transferred successively to the 51st Regiment, the 11th Regiment and finally the 99th Regiment. He was discharged from the army in Hobart on 1 February 1850 (British army records for Andrew Peagan).
Andrew Phegan’s wife, Margaret Delaney, was possibly one of the wives of the regiment on board ‘Lord Lyndoch’ travelling with their eldest son James (or James Joseph). Margaret Phegan certainly soon arrived in Tasmania as the couple’s second son Richard was born in Tasmania on 1 October 1834. No official birth record in Tasmania has been located for either of their two younger sons, John Joseph and Andrew Barnabas. When John Phegan died in 1867, various sources gave his age as 28 or 30 indicating a birth year 1836-38. Andrew Phegan junior died in Victoria in 1868 and the informant for the death registration gave his place of birth as Tasmania and his age as 29 indicating a birth year of 1838/9.
A contemporary source listing the members of the family and their ages is a shipping record created when the family returned to Hobart Town from Melbourne in July 1854 on the coastal steamer ‘Emma Isadora’. The record held by Victoria Public Record Office (VPRS 948) gives ages for all which indicate the following birth years: Andrew senior 1809, Margaret 1814, James 1833, Richard 1834, John 1836 and Andrew 1839.
Andrew Phegan senior is recorded as a Chelsea pensioner so was presumably in receipt of some pension payments after his army discharge. In September 1854 he was appointed an overseer of works by the Hobart Municipal Council. This appointment was terminated within a year after several incidents casting some doubts on his good behaviour. In 1855 both Andrew senior and his son John were applicants for pub licenses in Hobart. John Phegan was approved as licensee of ‘St Patrick’ at the corner of Barrack and Goulburn Streets, the licence being transferred from Redmond Jennings. At the Quarterly meeting of justices of the peace to consider applications for transfers or continuation of various licences including public-house licenses on 6 August 1855, Phegan stated that “he was 21 years of age last June, and unmarried; he had been initiated into the business by Mr. Jennings, and his father and mother were both residing with him” (‘The Hobarton Mercury’, 8 August 1855). It seems more likely that Phegan was under 21. In any case, the license was transferred from Phegan to John Grey Coulston in February 1856. His father Andrew was also approved as a pub licensee but he too only held the licence for a very short time. He and Roger Davis advertised the services available at the ‘Lord Raglan Hotel’ in December 1855 in ‘The Tasmanian Daily News’ but an agreement to dissolve their partnership was signed on 7 February 1856 and advertised in the same Hobart Town newspaper.
John Phegan later stated that he had married Catherine Theresa Bacon on 16 October 1855 at Ross, in the Tasmanian midlands not far from Oatlands where her family held property (NSW birth registration of his daughter, Honora Margaret, July 1858).
By March 1856 John Phegan was in Launceston in the north of Tasmania where he petitioned for insolvency, stating himself to be a licensed victualler from Hobart Town but at the final hearing in April, no debts were proved and he was discharged. At the same period, his father also appears to have moved to the Launceston district where he was awarded a three year contract in April to run the military canteen (‘The Tasmanian Daily News’ 3 April 1856 p 2, where he is described as Andrew Phegan of the 99th Regiment from Hobart Town). Phegan’s eldest brother, James, also settled about this time in northern Tasmania in the Devonport district.
Phegan in Sydney
On 6 January 1857 John Phegan arrived in Sydney from Launceston by the coastal steamer ‘Lizzie Weber’. He may have gained a job at the Sydney newspaper, the ‘People’s Advocate’, but his engagement would have been of short duration as the paper ceased production in February. A report of the St Patrick’s Day dinner in March describes him as a member of ‘The Press’ (‘Freemans’ Journal’ 21 March 1857). In May, one John Phegan incurred a 20s fine or 24 hours’ imprisonment for assaulting a constable who was trying to take him into custody for being drunk (‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 5 May 1857). When on 9 June the coastal steamer ‘Tasmania’ arrived in Sydney from Hobart Town, on board was a passenger listed as Mrs Phegan. This passenger was probably Phegan’s wife Catherine Theresa bringing with her their infant daughter, also Catherine. The child died in Sydney on 24 July aged 12 months. Her death registration (informant J. J. Phegan, father, office keeper, Town Hall) states she was born in Tasmania and had been in NSW for 6 weeks.
The Sydney City Council resumed municipal duties in April 1857 after the three years’ term of the City Commissioners who had replaced the old sacked council. The newly elected council set about deciding what staff it needed to appoint and what their salaries would be. It decided that a messenger and house-keeper couple was needed as in the past. Council decided to continue the joint position with an annual salary of £150 pa for the husband messenger plus £26 pa for the wife house-keeper. Notices inviting applicants for the position appeared in Sydney papers in mid-June. At the Council Meeting on 22 June, the Aldermen found that they had no less than 67 applicants for the position. The aldermen considered the applications in camera and then announced the appointment of John Phegan and wife at a reduced salary of £125 plus £26 pa (City Archives CRS 7/10/103). ‘The Northern Times’ of Newcastle (1 July) headlined its brief report “A sign of the times” in referring to the number of applicants and noted that the appointee was “a new arrival from Tasmania”.
The duties of messenger and housekeeper in 1857 encompassed more than the job-titles indicate to contemporary minds. Firstly, the position was a salaried one, albeit the lowest paid one. The salary was set in annual terms and the appointment lasted indefinitely unless specifically terminated by Council. Consequently, the position had a certain standing; in 19th Century terms the messenger was an ‘officer’ not just a ‘servant’ of Council. Secondly, the position carried responsibilities and its incumbent needed to be a literate person. The messenger, or office keeper as he is also described, was responsible for the working environment and security of the Town Hall as well as support to the Mayor in his role of chief executive officer. Patrick Barron who had held the position with his wife from 1843 to 1854 claimed to be at work from five o’clock in the morning until late at night. He wrote that his duties included attending the Mayor and Aldermen in all their meetings and attending Council officers when needed to convey messages, equipment and documents, to file newspapers and to fix the City Seal on documents. The messenger was also responsible for opening and locking up the Town Hall, for displaying official notices and dealing with members of the public calling at the Town Hall. He might also have been in charge of issuing any stores held at the Town Hall. His role in conveying messages was a crucial duty in a large organisation in the pre-telephone era. Barron listed among his wife’s duties cleaning the rooms, windows, furniture and water closets, preparing the inkstands, the fireplaces and candlesticks and making up the fires as required (City Archives CRS 26/4/158 January 1848). John Bailiff and his wife Mary Ann held the position from 1854 to June 1857 and when asked to describe his duties in May 1857 Bailiff, knowing he was about to resign (as he had tried to do earlier), wrote rather impatiently “I confess I am rather at a loss to describe my duties performed, they are so multifarious, and I am certain, Sir, that you must generally know them as well as I do. This much I can safely say that I am never at a loss for employment, but on the contrary, I am fully employed on an average about twelve hours daily, and for the three and a half years I have held my situation I have never been 2 hours absent from my duties. I have never had a single holiday and with very few exceptions have been obliged to work on the Sunday to keep the House in any sort of decent order” (City Archives CRS 22/1/9).
The Phegan couple commenced employment on 1 July 1857. They suffered the death of their daughter Catherine only weeks after commencing their City employment. The child was attended by Dr Isaac Aaron, the City Health Officer, and died at the Town Hall, then in King Street, of “dentition and meningitis”.
The Phegans fulfilled their duties competently. There were no complaints. When the salaries were set for the year in 1858, Phegan and his wife’s salaries were unchanged. On 3 July 1858, Phegan’s wife Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Honora Margaret. John Phegan’s age at this registration is stated to be 22 (birth year 1836/7) and his address is at King Street but inexplicably his occupation is recorded as ‘compositor’. Having completed a year of employment with Council, Phegan wrote requesting a supplementary payment for extra duties he had performed during the year (City Archives CRS 22/2/33). While sometimes prompted by their superior officer, it was customary for staff to seek increases of their wages annually or to request a gratuity for extra services. Such letters were sent to the Town Clerk who passed them on to the Finance Committee. That Committee made a recommendation which then went to a Council meeting where it might be debated.
Phegan’s letter displays his excellent hand-writing and his intelligence and asserts his competency. Phegan commenced his letter by a reminder that he had been selected for his office “by a great majority of votes” ahead of the 67 other applicants. He continued that this “marked confidence” had continued as he had committed no faults and that he had received the “encouragement” of Council and the Town Clerk. He then stated that his services as a clerk had been used in the “various departments of the establishment”. He drew attention to the fact that his salary was £25 less than previously paid and suggested that “His [predecessor’s] efficiency was no doubt deserving the full amount paid to him. Mine I flatter myself though not equally rewarded is fully as great”. He continued his request by pointing out that in the past the City had also employed an assistant messenger but no longer did and consequently had saved £129 pa in only employing one messenger. The letter was endorsed by Charles Woolcott, the Town Clerk, who noted that Phegan had regularly been employed by him in clerical duties when extra assistance was needed and had been of “great service”. His duties as messenger had been “attended to with much diligence”. The Finance Committee reported: “the applicant has been employed by the Town Clerk and in other departments and his services have been frequently found valuable and very efficient as an extra writing clerk” and noted “his ordinary duties of messenger and, his having charge of the Offices, have at all times been attended to with much diligence”. The Committee recommended the payment of £25 as an allowance.
The recommendation was debated in the Council meeting on 2 August 1858 and reported in the daily papers (‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 3 August 1858 and ‘Empire’ 3 August 1858). The motion to make the payment was moved by Alderman Thornton and seconded by Alderman Raper. Thornton said he could personally testify to Phegan’s services particularly during his mayoralty (1857). Alderman Northwood said that although he had opposed an increase in the salary of the messenger, Council had only paid Phegan for those services and he personally had seen Phegan writing till a late hour and “he knew he was well worth this allowance for that extra work”. After further debate, the motion was put and passed.
Phegan continued performing his duties well at the Town Hall. His salary remained unaltered for 1859 but, just as he had the year before, he requested a gratuity for the performance of “extra services” (City Archives CRS 22/3/38). This time in a letter dated 1 September to the Finance Committee, he made the assumption that he would receive the gratuity as his conduct had been good and he had performed valuable service as before. The Mayor, George Smith, requested a report from the Town Clerk, Woolcott, and he replied in similar terms as previously adding the extra details “He has become very useful in arranging and keeping in order the books and papers in the office … He is attentive to his duties and never idle when occupation can be found for him.” The Committee recommended that the payment be made while noting it should be discontinued in the future. The motion to pay Phegan was put at the meeting of 26 September and reported in the papers (‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 27 September 1859 and ‘Empire’ 27 September 1859). Alderman Northwood opposed the motion as a dangerous precedent but said Phegan performed efficiently. Alderman Broughton considered Phegan’s salary sufficient and noted he received lodging, fuel and light free of costs but stated “He was a very respectable man and fit for a higher situation”. Alderman Murphy said that Phegan had done the work and should be paid. Thurlow spoke in support of his motion and it was put and passed.
The year 1860 was to prove a disastrous year for John Phegan and members of his family. His brother Andrew came to Sydney and married Catherine O’Loughlin on 20 October 1859 and they had a child born in 1860 who died very soon after birth. His brother Richard, who was now in Melbourne, also lost a child, the four year old Belinda Margaret who died in March. Then Phegan’s own wife, Catherine Theresa, died at the Town Hall premises, by then in Wynyard Square, in May of “congestion of brain” suffered for three weeks. She had been attended by Dr Graham, the City Health Officer. Her death notice in the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ Monday 7 May 1860 read “At her late residence, 52 Wynyard-square, Sydney, on Sunday, the 6th instant, after a short illness, aged 22 years and 9 months, Catherine Theresa, wife of Mr. John Phegan, leaving a young child and a disconsolate husband to lament their loss.” Phegan’s young daughter, Honora, went to Tasmania to the care of her maternal grand-parents, Honora and John Bacon, who owned the property Belle Vue (or Belle View) on Lake Dulverton near Oatlands in the midlands. The family was further bereaved in September with the death of Andrew Phegan senior at Beechworth in Victoria.
[Further details relating to Phegan’s wife can be found on the City of Sydney website in the biographical ‘person’ registration for Catherine Phegan.]
Phegan requested leave to visit Tasmania in order to see his child and relatives in a letter dated 5 December 1860 to the Mayor (Murphy) and received permission for 14 days’ leave from 15 December (CRS 26/47/807). He was absent for longer and the new Mayor (Sutherland) directed the Town Clerk to ask why. In his reply dated 12 January in explaining his absence for the previous ten days and his failure to attend the office on the previous Friday, he suggested his leave was “for the period necessary to visit Tasmania which I supposed to be about a fortnight as stated in my application”. He said his return had been delayed because the regular steamer had been laid up on the slip and so he had had to make a two stage journey from Tasmania to Melbourne and then from Melbourne to Sydney. In relation to his absence on the Friday, he begged pardon and offered “in palliation” that he had been “assisting at the obsequies of a dear friend in Parramatta” (City Archives CRS 26/48/034). This friend appears to have been Daniel McClennan who, at the age of 33, had collapsed and died of a heart attack, leaving a widow and three children. (Funeral notices, articles on McClennan/McClellan, ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 10 January, SMH and ‘Empire’ 11 January 1861,’Sydney Mail’ 12 January 1861, NSW death registration indexed as Daniel Maclelan).
The coastal shipping records held by the Public Record Office of Victoria have two entries which seem to correlate with Phegan’s return voyage from Tasmania and they add further confusion to the question of his age. One voyage listed in VPRS 944 for a trip from Launceston to Melbourne has passenger John Phegan born 1833; the second voyage listed in VPRS 948 for a trip from Melbourne to Sydney aboard the ‘Wonga Wonga’ has passenger J Phegan age 34 (born c1826). The ‘Wonga Wonga’ made the round trip Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney several times per week.
Phegan was apparently struggling to manage his life and two weeks later he gave a month’s notice of his resignation to take effect on 1 March 1861 (City Archives CRS 26/48/096). He wrote:
“From continued ill health and other causes since the death of my wife I regret that I am compelled to resign the appointment I now hold under the Council from the 1st March.
“I would wish my heartfelt thanks to be conveyed to the Council for the many kind considerations evinced by its members towards me and I regret that the circumstances stated above will be the cause of my parting with an establishment of officers from whom for nearly four years I have experienced nothing but uninterrupted harmony and good wishes.”
Phegan in Braidwood
Phegan, suffering after the loss of his wife, was probably also finding his job more difficult and less rewarding as he was still responsible for the house-keeping duties performed by his wife as well as his own duties. Phegan left Sydney and made what was to be a fateful decision leading eventually to his death at the hands of a band of murderers. He headed for the gold mining district of Braidwood probably leaving Sydney in 1861. An advertisement by P Wilson of 200 Palmer St Sydney declared that unless John Phegan paid him ten pounds, the goods he had left behind would be sold (‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 1 May 1862). His brother Andrew also left Sydney and settled in Victoria while his brother Richard arrived in Sydney about this time and established a business at Balmain and eventually also at Cape Hawke as a shipwright. If later newspaper reports are correct, John Phegan was employed for a week with the ‘Braidwood Observer’ and then for a short period as a bookkeeper for Bush’s store in Wallace Street, Braidwood. He became a gold digger and worked a river claim on the Shoalhaven gravels at Nerriga, north of Braidwood. The NSW Department of Resources and Energy Fact Sheet on the Nerriga diggings states that most of the gold found was fine but there were occasionally large nuggets up to an incredible 240 ounces. The ‘Illawarra Mercury’ (27 November 1863) reprinted an article from the ‘Braidwood Despatch’ reporting the finding of a large nugget, solid gold and weighing over twenty seven ounces, in the vicinity of “Phegan’s claim” but Phegan was no longer working there.
Phegan was not content to work hard as he had shown he could in his employment with the City of Sydney. Instead, he perpetrated a foolish, opportunistic crime with very little skill or planning in evidence. His apprehension on charges of uttering a forgery was reported with much detail in two of the local newspapers (see an article from the ‘Braidwood Dispatch’ reprinted in ‘The Goulburn Herald’ 5 September 1863 and an article from the ‘Braidwood Observer’ reprinted in the ‘Sydney Mail’ 12 September 1863, the last of which spelt Phegan’s name as Fagan). He passed a cheque for £47 to Dudley Magrath of Corang. The cheque was on the Commercial Bank Goulburn on the account of Mr P Morrissey of the Telegraph Office at Braidwood and signed in his name but apparently looking nothing like his signature. Upon presentation, the bank rejected the cheque as Morrissey had in fact closed that account and had opened a new account at the Joint Stock Bank in Braidwood. Phegan was friendly with Morrissey and had taken blank cheques from his old cheque book. The ‘Braidwood Dispatch’ commented on Phegan’s good education and noted that his venture with the pick and shovel “has been very lucky and equally as improvident”. He was committed for trial and at the Braidwood Quarter Sessions in November was sentenced to three years with labour. He was transferred from Goulburn Gaol to Darlinghurst Gaol in Sydney in February 1864.
Phegan: the Final Years
It was at Darlinghurst Gaol that Phegan’s path crossed that of John Carroll, a warder there. Phegan seems to have been drawn into a strange episode related by the Reverend P. P. Agnew. Reverend Agnew had been for some 20 years a Chaplain at Darlinghurst Gaol and Cockatoo Island. Agnew had in July 1864 renounced the episcopal authority of the Anglican Bishop of Sydney and had set up the Free Church of England with considerable support. In September, the Colonial Secretary had asked Agnew to show cause why he should not be removed from the Chaplaincy as the Bishop had withdrawn his license to act as a clergyman of the Church of England. Agnew had stated various legal arguments in reply (‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 1 October 1864). His removal went ahead and was announced in November but apparently the reason for removal had changed and Agnew set about getting the newspapers to publish letters he had sent to the Colonial Secretary relating to the new cause for removal (‘Empire’ 17 November). Agnew’s tale does not reveal full names, using just initials, except in the case of Phegan. Agnew said he was persuaded on humanitarian grounds but against regulations to carry a letter from the prisoner J.R.C., George St bookseller, to his wife who was about to give birth. Unknown to him but known, Agnew said, to prison authorities, Phegan had inserted another letter in J.R.C.’s letter and Warder C — had been present at the receipt of the letter by J.R.C.’s wife and had arrested, without warrant, the person addressed in Phegan’s letter. The interception of the letter and his dismissal were part of the “system of espionage” in operation at the Gaol alleged Agnew. Agnew also took aim at other aspects of the Gaol’s administration writing “The arrangements as regards indulgences and remissions and exaction of sentences are carried out in a most arbitrary manner, and have seldom any reference to good conduct or actual service”. It may be that Phegan was in 1866 given just such an arbitrary remission of sentence at Carroll’s request some months before the expiration of his sentence although his remission may also have been justified by his “very good” behaviour noted on his prison record.
While Phegan was still in gaol, the Braidwood district where he had been a gold miner suffered from attacks by the Clarke Gang of bushrangers.
New South Wales had been plagued in the 1860s by an outbreak of vicious bushranging which seemed to defy police and government efforts to suppress and had led to the passing of the Felons Apprehension Act in April 1865. The Act contained provisions for proclaiming a person an “outlaw”. It also contained severe penalties (imprisonment, forfeiture of land and goods) for “harbourers” – persons who had given sustenance, supplies or firearms to outlaws. Additionally, the NSW Government had proclaimed very large rewards for the apprehension of specific bushrangers. With the deaths of Gilbert, Dunn, Morgan and Hall by mid 1865 it seemed that the day of the bushranger in NSW might be over. It was not so. In October, a group of men in the Braidwood district led by Thomas Clarke began what was to become a continuing series of attacks on homesteads, travellers, mail coaches, Chinese gold miners, households and stores in settlements with thefts of goods, horses and money. Some of those held up were injured as well as robbed. The gang included his relatives Pat Connell and Tom Connell and later his brother John Clarke. Peter C Smith has written a comprehensive account of the gang, the families and the community and the official responses. He writes “The Clarke Gang became arguably the worst and most troublesome bushrangers of all time. However, it was not just the Clarke and Connell brothers the authorities had to rein in. At the heart of the outbreak was an entrenched network of harbourers and sympathisers whose support eclipsed that for all other bushrangers and fuelled a reign of terror in the Southern District of New South Wales.” (‘The Clarke Gang’ p18)
During 1865, the Clarkes and Connells and their gang were suspected of horse stealing, the murder of a Chinese man, Ah Fow, (although other Chinese were later charged but acquitted of his murder) and the murder of an Aboriginal man whom they might have suspected of being a police tracker; they were clearly implicated in the six-hour long hold up and robbery on 29 December 1865 of Foxlow Station, owned by John Hosking, the first Mayor of Sydney, where goods worth more than £200 were stolen, including shotguns, saddles including a side-saddle, food, cloth and clothing for men, women and children, wine, spirits, tobacco and eau-de-cologne. In 1866, the activities of the gang increased. Travellers were held up, some assaulted, and relieved of money; stores at Jembaicumbene, Gundaroo, Caledonia and Michelago were ransacked for money, supplies and clothing; mail coaches were robbed. A police attempt to capture the gang members at Mudmelong in February resulted in total fiasco when four of the police were captured and had their guns and ammunition stolen. The attacks on mail coaches continued; the gang raided the Bungendore Police Barracks when the police were absent; they held up pubs and stores and bashed up a man they believed had been a juryman in a trial of one of the family. In April 1866, the gang held up travellers going to Nerrigundah, wounding one severely, and then rode into the township and proceeded to round up everyone to be found and robbed them and the store and hotel. There were two policemen in the town and in the attempt to stop the robberies a shoot-out ensued and Constable O’Grady was killed as was William Fletcher who had just joined the gang that day. This episode led directly to the outlawing of Tommy Clarke and Pat Connell, “an outcome that many had predicted as inevitable given their reckless disregard for the law and their numerous shoot-outs with police. Up until now it had been just a matter of luck that murder had not been added to their record of robberies and assaults” (Peter C Smith ‘The Clarke Gang’ p 275).
The attacks continued unabated through the next few months and pressure mounted on the NSW government to do something about it. Tommy Clarke and Pat Connell were proclaimed outlaws and very large rewards were offered for their capture, £500 for Tommy Clarke and £300 for Pat Connell. In July, Tommy Clarke, Pat Connell and others for the fourth time held up Morris’s hotel at Mudmelong and everyone who came into the town was robbed. The next day a police group located and chased after several of the gang and Pat Connell was shot and killed. In response, the gang seemed to become more vicious. They raided the Araluen Police Station at Newtown. They continued to rob homesteads and the mail coaches. They revisited Foxlow Station twice more. On the third visit by the gang, one of the Connells bashed the superintendent, Vallance, for having identified gang members in the previous robberies. Once again they took food, clothing for men and women, and other goods.
The Colonial Secretary was Henry Parkes and he now decided to take an active role to bring about the capture of the Clarke Gang. Parkes was responsible for the Police Department and had instructed the Inspector-General of Police to report to him daily but he decided additionally to appoint a party of special constables who would operate independently and in fact as a secret police independent of the regular police. The first such party of special police, Flynn’s party, was unsuccessful. In the meanwhile, John Carroll, warder at Darlinghurst Gaol had successfully deceived and tricked a prisoner there into revealing where he had hidden gold stolen from the steamship ‘Barwon’ and was able to claim the £500 reward. Parkes was impressed with him and Carroll decided to try for the £500 reward for the capture of Tommy Clarke. Carroll put a proposal to Parkes to form a group of special constables and selected Patrick Kennagh a warder at Darlinghurst, Eneas MacDonnell a warder at Yass Gaol and John Phegan serving his sentence at Darlinghurst Gaol to make up his party. Phegan was chosen because of his presumed knowledge of the Braidwood district.
Carroll’s Party were instructed by Parkes on 22 September 1866 to go to Braidwood to capture Thomas Clarke and his associates. Carroll was only to be paid if successful and in that case he was also to be rewarded by appointment to a suitable public office. The members of his party were to be paid seven shillings per day (a rate only a little less than that earned by Phegan as messenger) which would be increased to ten shillings per day if successful. On arrival at Braidwood, they were to be sworn in by the Justices of the Peace, Rodd and Bennison. Their presence was not notified to the regular police in the district and they were to proceed independently of them. Carroll was to report directly to Parkes.
The party intended to put themselves about as a team of surveyors. In this guise they visited Clarke’s mother and sisters on their property believing they could gain their trust and put into operation a plan to trick the gang members. It seems clear that the family was well aware of their true identity within a very short time. Barely a week had passed before an armed gang attacked the fake surveyors at their camp near the Clarke property engaging in a prolonged shoot-out perhaps meant more as intimidation than as a purposeful attempt to kill. Carroll reported the attack to Parkes still believing that the Clarkes had not “the remotest suspicion of who we really were”. Nevertheless it certainly caused Carroll to change his plans from an attempt to capture Clarke by deception and trickery. Carroll became aware of what he called “the well organised system known as bush-telegraphs which exist throughout the whole district” finding that their arrival was always expected as they travelled about the countryside without ever sighting gang members.
Carroll now revealed himself and party as Special Constables and turned his efforts to the prosecution of members of the Clarke and Connell families for “harbouring”, intending to reduce the bushrangers’ support and claim the £200 reward payable for a successful prosecution. In his report to Parkes he wrote “It is a matter of surprise to me that, unassisted by legal advice, and opposed directly by local influences, and directly and covertly by several members of the police, I succeeded in getting committals in even three instances.” Carroll also cited the effects of “the disturbed state of the district and the dread which the bushrangers have inspired”. He lamented the fact that all those he had brought before the court had either been discharged or allowed out on bail so that they were all still able to assist the bushrangers. (Carroll’s communications to Parkes and later communications to Parkes from Police authorities were all tabled in Parliament and can be found in NSW Parliamentary Votes and Proceedings online for July 1867and in Sydney newspapers 2 October 1867).
Carroll’s arrests and prosecutions upset not only the Clarkes, but also the police and others in Braidwood. He arrested the Griffin brothers who had been secretly informing on the gang to individual members of police. He also verbally attacked police in court and said he had received more opposition from police than from the gang. Carroll underestimated the amount of support the gang had in the district, given either for fear or favour. He decided to begin active pursuit of the gang and to move into their home territory. The party proceeded toward Jinden Station, managed by Ned Smith, believed to be a Clarke sympathiser. On the way, they spotted James Griffin, brother of Patrick and Michael whom Carroll had prosecuted as harbourers. They had a midday meal with Michael Connell aka O’Connell who was out on bail after Carroll’s prosecution of him and who had at one time threatened to shoot Carroll. Peter C Smith comments:
“’The Specials’ very presence at enemy headquarters shows their ignorance of the danger they were in, their foolhardiness and arrogance. They were now on the bushrangers’ turf and out of their depth. They had seen James Griffin and knew he was a bush telegraph yet appeared oblivious to the danger.” (p 430)
They stayed overnight at Jinden Station leaving on foot in the morning of 9 January 1867. Carroll’s party went to Hezekiah Watt’s property and saw a young man, George Smith, there. He had seen a group of horsemen about and advised Carroll to take care and avoid the tracks. They did not return as planned to Jinden and the next day Ned Smith sent John Lynn out to make enquiries. He found the bodies of Phegan and McDonnell on a track about 2km from the homestead. They had been shot. Further search found the bodies of Carroll and Kennagh, also shot. Tracks were found of three horses and possibly of four men. Eneas McDonnell had been shot in the thigh, severing the femoral artery causing rapid bleeding to death. John Phegan had been shot in the right side and then as he lay wounded on the track he was shot a second time on the left side. Patrick Kennagh had been shot while in a kneeling position with the bullet entering his neck and taking a downward path. John Carroll was shot in the chest also while in a kneeling position. On Carroll’s chest, there was a red silk handkerchief on which was a one pound note held in place by a piece of wood. A clear reference to “blood money”. Personal possessions and money were left on the bodies. Most of the armament of the party had been taken including their prized revolving rifles.
Phegan had on him five shillings and three pence in silver and a leather purse with a portrait of a woman and a lock of plaited hair. His was a terrible end to a life that at one time had shown promise of happiness and achievement. In accepting Carroll’s offer to join his party, Phegan may have been seizing an opportunity for redemption or simply taking the chance to earn a wage with the prospect of collecting some reward money. Peter Smith wrote of Carroll’s party:
“… it was a tragic end. They became victims of the lawlessness in a callous act of assassination unprecedented in bushranging history.” (Peter C Smith, p440)
The killings gave rise to a swell of public indignation and much hostility to the police and the politicians who had failed to curb the bushranging outbreak. Opinion was not unanimous that the Clarke gang was responsible and some expressed their beliefs that members of the police force may have been involved. The newspapers gave full coverage and local correspondents told all they knew of the killings and the victims. Huge public meetings were held in the Braidwood and Araluen districts. The Government responded in many ways. The Government issued an “Extraordinary Proclamation” to the people of the district which included a £5000 reward for the apprehension of the unnamed murderers. A special closed Braidwood Commission of Inquiry was held in February seeking causes and information about the bushranging outbreak by interviewing 57 witnesses. Arrests were made of Clarke associates now charged with harbouring or assault or robbery. More than 150 police, both regulars and ‘specials’, were sent to the area. The Clarkes continued to evade police and committed more robberies. Two of their gang members, James Dornan and Bill Scott, were found dead of head injuries in March and April, killed by unidentified assailants.
In the course of bringing information about the murdered Special Constables to the public, many newspapers published reports saying that Phegan “had been in some connection with Clarke’s gang, knew the country and had served his sentence”. This led Phegan’s brother, Richard who was in Sydney living at Balmain, to write a carefully worded refutation to the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ (published 19 January 1867). Phegan said
“The only proper inference from this is that my brother had been associated with this lawless gang in their outrages, and had suffered imprisonment as a punishment for it. Nothing can be farther removed from the real facts than such an assertion. My brother never had any connection with Clarke or with his associates He may, probably, have made the acquaintance of some of the party while he was engaged as a miner, but he never had any connection, direct or indirect, with their bushranging. I would scarcely trouble you with these remarks, did I not fear that many of the friends of my brother, both here and in Tasmania his native place, might be misled by reading the Herald's account of the late tragical occurrence, and be induced to fancy that he had been in some illegal manner connected with the outlaw Clarke
I am, Sir, yours truly, R. PHEGAN. Pearson Street, Balmain, January 13th”
The Clarke brothers were eventually captured in April in a shoot-out that saw Johnny Clarke shot in the shoulder, Constable Walsh shot in the leg and the indigenous tracker, Sir Watkin, shot so badly in an arm that it had to be amputated. The Government and police had a choice of charges to lay against the Clarkes and others to achieve their end of securing convictions of gang members for capital offences. The Clarke brothers were charged with shooting and wounding with intent to kill Constable Walsh and tracker Sir Watkin. James Griffin was arrested and charged with the murder of Carroll. A consideration determining these prosecutions was to ensure that Griffin did not have the chance to turn Queen’s Evidence against the Clarkes and so gain himself a pardon. The Clarkes were found guilty and sentenced to death and were hanged on 25 June 1867. The Clarke brothers continued to their final days to deny that they had had any part in the assassination of the special police. Griffin was acquitted of the murder of Carroll as witnesses gave contradictory or confusing evidence. Griffin was then charged with the murder of Kennagh and, with the Clarkes no longer alive, a number of witnesses, including Ned Smith of Jinden, now changed their evidence, clearly committing perjury in one or other trial, but this time Griffin was found guilty and sentenced to death (later commuted). Michael Connell aka O’Connell was tried for harbouring and was found guilty, sentenced to 7 years and his property was forfeit although this last penalty was not carried out. Patrick and Michael Griffin were acquitted of harbouring as evidence of their secret help to police was given. William Bruce was charged with the robbery at Mudmelong in which the police were captured but he was acquitted.
The bodies of the murdered Special Constables had been hastily interred at the site of their deaths some forty miles out of Braidwood. There were no coffins, no Christian burial or proper interment. The public outcry was furious. The Colonial Secretary, Parkes, ordered that an undertaker with four coffins be sent and the bodies disinterred and brought to Braidwood for proper burial. The horrific task of disinterring and bringing the bodies back to Braidwood in the summer heat and rain took three full days so it was not until 18 January (nine days after the murders) that a funeral procession of some 150 people accompanied the bodies to the Catholic cemetery. As the Catholic priest was out of town, the service was read by D. E. Finnegan, the teacher at the Catholic school.
A four sided monument was later erected at their burial site in the cemetery, each side bearing the name of one of the Special Constables with the inscription “One of the special constables murdered at Jinden 9th January 1867 whilst in pursuit of the outlaw Thomas Clarke”.
Genealogical notes on the Phegan family:
Great care is needed in sorting out the genealogical facts relating to the Phegan family. Firstly, many variants of the surname ‘Phegan’ occur in official documents, contemporary records and newspaper accounts. The following variations have been found: Peagan, Phegan, Phagan, Pagin, Fagan and Fegan. Secondly, there are many inconsistencies in the dates given by family members for family events such as births and marriages. It seems probable that a number of such events were never officially registered. There are instance also of deliberate inaccuracies by family members relating either to dates or occupational history.
Andrew PHEGAN born c 1809 in Queens County Ireland married Margaret DELANEY born c 1814; marriage date 6 July 1831 Kilkenny Ireland; enlisted English army 7 June 1827; arrived Hobart Town per ‘Lord Lyndoch’ October 1833. Andrew PHEGAN died 19 September 1860 at Beechworth Victoria. Margaret PHEGAN married (2) George BATTERSON (PHAGAN & BATTISON) 22 May 1862 Tasmania; she died 29 June 1885 Tasmania.
Family of Andrew PHEGAN and Margaret DELANEY:
(1) James or James Joseph PHEGAN born c 1832 in England (according to death registration); John [sic] Joseph FEGAN boat builder married Bridget MANNING 14 March 1858 Torquay Tasmania; FEGAN Age 26, MANNING age 22; Bridget is also recorded as MANIAN. Possible second marriage to Margaret O’BRIEN in Victoria 1870. James died 13 September 1888, age 56, at Launceston formerly of Hamilton-on-Forth
Issue: Margaret born and died 1860 Tasmania; James born 1862 Victoria, Bridget born 1865 Victoria and possibly died 1866.
(2) Richard or Richard Michael PHEGAN born 1 October 1834 at Hobart Town Tasmania married (1) Mary Ann (Minnie) LOWE born 20 January 1837 Hobart Town; marriage date 12 February 1855 at Hobart Town; Mary Ann (Minnie) died 11 September 1894 at Paddington NSW. Richard married (2) Mary CASSON 8 July 1896 at Sydney; Richard died 14 September 1916 Canterbury NSW.
Issue of Richard and Mary Ann PHEGAN nee LOWE possibly as follows: Belinda Margaret born 1855 Hobart Town Tasmania died 13 March 1860 Victoria; Emma born 1860 Melbourne Victoria, ?died 1889 at Balmain NSW; Richard Andrew born 1863 Balmain NSW; John J born 1864 at Balmain NSW, presumed died as infant; John Joseph born 1867 at Balmain NSW, married Catherine STEWART at Balmain NSW, died 1925 Burwood NSW; George W born 1868 at Balmain NSW; Richard (possibly Ernest) born 1872 at Port Stephens NSW; Herbert Henry born 1873 at Port Stephens NSW; Albert born 1876 at Port Stephens NSW married Mary E Mitchell 1896 Sydney; Minnie born 1878 at Port Stephens NSW; James L born ?; Ernest born ? married Marion Brady 1894 Sydney.
(3) John or John Joseph PHEGAN born c 1836 married Catherine Theresa Bacon (parents John BACON d September 1864 Oatlands Tasmania and Honora COPELAND d October 1891 Oatlands Tasmania, married1833 Tasmania); Catherine BACON was born 1847 in Tasmania; marriage (?) date 16 October 1855 in Ross Tasmania; Catherine died 6 May 1860 in Sydney; John died at Jinden Station near Braidwood NSW 9 January 1867.
Issue of John and Catherine: Catherine born c1856 in Tasmania, died 24 July 1857 Sydney; Honora Margaret born 3 July 1858 Sydney married Thomas DEERING 23 January 1889 at Glen Innes, died 17 February 1919 Oatlands Tasmania. Issue: Thomas DEERING born 1892 Emmaville NSW and Margaret DEERING born 1889 Emmaville NSW.
(4) Andrew or Andrew Barnabas PHEGAN born c 1838 Hobart Town married Catherine O’LOUGHLAN 20 October 1859 in Sydney. Andrew died 1868 in Victoria.
Issue of Andrew and Catherine: Catherine born and died 1860 Sydney; Andrew Thomas born 1861 Melbourne Victoria, died 1862 Victoria; Frank born 1864 Melbourne Victoria; Elizabeth born 1867 Victoria.
In Tasmania, Andrew PHEAGAN age 21 married Margaret CONNORS age 15 on 13 February 1879; [Andrew born c1858]; relationship to Phegan family of Andrew Phegan and Margaret Delaney is unclear; possibly a son of James PHEGAN and Bridget MANNING. Resident at Forth (Hamilton-on-Forth) Tasmania for many years. Issue includes Catherine born 1883, Edmund born 1884, John Joseph born 1888, Ernest Dominic born & died 1889, Albert Francis born 1891, Mary Gertrude born 1895, Richard Leslie born 1899.
[This biographical Person registration was researched and drafted by City of Sydney Archives volunteer Marilyn Mason, December 2017]
References
City of Sydney Archives: CRS 7 Minutes of City of Sydney Council; CRS 26 Letters Received; CRS 22 Reports of the Finance Committee. (Many of the records in these series have item descriptions or are digitised and available online: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au)
online reference
Australian Newspapers digitised by the National Library of Australia: www. trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
NSW Births Deaths Marriages Registry, http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/family-history.aspx
Tasmania Records, Wills, Births Deaths Marriages, Linc Tasmania online: https://www.linc.tas.gov.au/Pages/Home.aspx
Victoria Births Deaths Marriages online: https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/
Public Record Office Victoria (PROV): https://www.prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/explore-topic/passenger-records-and-immigration
Parliament of NSW, parliamentary papers: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/hansard/Pages/Comprehensive-index-to-all-parliamentary-document.aspx
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: https://www.familysearch.org/
NSW State Archives and Records: https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/
Australia’s Redcoat Settlers, created by Barrie and Margaret Chapman: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~garter1/
Australian Dictionary of Biography online: adb.anu.edu/au.biography
Charles White: ‘History of Australian Bushranging Volume 2, Chapter XVIII The Brothers Clarke’, online: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/12/1201971h.html
NSW Department of Resources and Energy, Prime Fact Sheet 571, ‘Nerriga gold deposits’, produced by NSW Department of Primary Industries, 2007: https://www.resourcesandenergy.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/109775/nerriga-gold-deposits.pdf
Other references:
Transcriptions of NSW Birth, Death or Marriage Registrations by NSW Family History Transcriptions Pty Ltd
Australian Vital Records Index (AVR), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: CD collection
Peter C Smith, ‘The Clarke Gang: Outlawed, Outcast and Forgotten’, published by Rosenberg, 2015
Keith A Johnson and Malcolm R Sainty, ‘Sydney Burial Ground 1819-1901 (Elizabeth and Devonshire Streets) and History of Sydney’s Early Cemeteries from 1788’, Library of Australian History, 2001Relationship legacy dataRELATED TO: Town Clerks Department AG-0040 - Worked inGenderMaleOccupational historyMessenger, 22 June 1857 to 1 March 1861. [his wife Catherine Theresa Phegan was appointed Office Keeper 22 June 1857 until her death on 6 May 1860]Source system ID56
Death date: 9 January 1867, Jinden Station, Braidwood District NSW
Family background in Tasmania
John Joseph Phegan was the third son of Andrew Phegan who was born in Ireland c1809 and came to Hobart Town, Tasmania, for garrison duties as a private in the 21st regiment, arriving on ‘Lord Lyndoch’ on 10 December 1833. Andrew Phegan continued in the army in Tasmania being transferred successively to the 51st Regiment, the 11th Regiment and finally the 99th Regiment. He was discharged from the army in Hobart on 1 February 1850 (British army records for Andrew Peagan).
Andrew Phegan’s wife, Margaret Delaney, was possibly one of the wives of the regiment on board ‘Lord Lyndoch’ travelling with their eldest son James (or James Joseph). Margaret Phegan certainly soon arrived in Tasmania as the couple’s second son Richard was born in Tasmania on 1 October 1834. No official birth record in Tasmania has been located for either of their two younger sons, John Joseph and Andrew Barnabas. When John Phegan died in 1867, various sources gave his age as 28 or 30 indicating a birth year 1836-38. Andrew Phegan junior died in Victoria in 1868 and the informant for the death registration gave his place of birth as Tasmania and his age as 29 indicating a birth year of 1838/9.
A contemporary source listing the members of the family and their ages is a shipping record created when the family returned to Hobart Town from Melbourne in July 1854 on the coastal steamer ‘Emma Isadora’. The record held by Victoria Public Record Office (VPRS 948) gives ages for all which indicate the following birth years: Andrew senior 1809, Margaret 1814, James 1833, Richard 1834, John 1836 and Andrew 1839.
Andrew Phegan senior is recorded as a Chelsea pensioner so was presumably in receipt of some pension payments after his army discharge. In September 1854 he was appointed an overseer of works by the Hobart Municipal Council. This appointment was terminated within a year after several incidents casting some doubts on his good behaviour. In 1855 both Andrew senior and his son John were applicants for pub licenses in Hobart. John Phegan was approved as licensee of ‘St Patrick’ at the corner of Barrack and Goulburn Streets, the licence being transferred from Redmond Jennings. At the Quarterly meeting of justices of the peace to consider applications for transfers or continuation of various licences including public-house licenses on 6 August 1855, Phegan stated that “he was 21 years of age last June, and unmarried; he had been initiated into the business by Mr. Jennings, and his father and mother were both residing with him” (‘The Hobarton Mercury’, 8 August 1855). It seems more likely that Phegan was under 21. In any case, the license was transferred from Phegan to John Grey Coulston in February 1856. His father Andrew was also approved as a pub licensee but he too only held the licence for a very short time. He and Roger Davis advertised the services available at the ‘Lord Raglan Hotel’ in December 1855 in ‘The Tasmanian Daily News’ but an agreement to dissolve their partnership was signed on 7 February 1856 and advertised in the same Hobart Town newspaper.
John Phegan later stated that he had married Catherine Theresa Bacon on 16 October 1855 at Ross, in the Tasmanian midlands not far from Oatlands where her family held property (NSW birth registration of his daughter, Honora Margaret, July 1858).
By March 1856 John Phegan was in Launceston in the north of Tasmania where he petitioned for insolvency, stating himself to be a licensed victualler from Hobart Town but at the final hearing in April, no debts were proved and he was discharged. At the same period, his father also appears to have moved to the Launceston district where he was awarded a three year contract in April to run the military canteen (‘The Tasmanian Daily News’ 3 April 1856 p 2, where he is described as Andrew Phegan of the 99th Regiment from Hobart Town). Phegan’s eldest brother, James, also settled about this time in northern Tasmania in the Devonport district.
Phegan in Sydney
On 6 January 1857 John Phegan arrived in Sydney from Launceston by the coastal steamer ‘Lizzie Weber’. He may have gained a job at the Sydney newspaper, the ‘People’s Advocate’, but his engagement would have been of short duration as the paper ceased production in February. A report of the St Patrick’s Day dinner in March describes him as a member of ‘The Press’ (‘Freemans’ Journal’ 21 March 1857). In May, one John Phegan incurred a 20s fine or 24 hours’ imprisonment for assaulting a constable who was trying to take him into custody for being drunk (‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 5 May 1857). When on 9 June the coastal steamer ‘Tasmania’ arrived in Sydney from Hobart Town, on board was a passenger listed as Mrs Phegan. This passenger was probably Phegan’s wife Catherine Theresa bringing with her their infant daughter, also Catherine. The child died in Sydney on 24 July aged 12 months. Her death registration (informant J. J. Phegan, father, office keeper, Town Hall) states she was born in Tasmania and had been in NSW for 6 weeks.
The Sydney City Council resumed municipal duties in April 1857 after the three years’ term of the City Commissioners who had replaced the old sacked council. The newly elected council set about deciding what staff it needed to appoint and what their salaries would be. It decided that a messenger and house-keeper couple was needed as in the past. Council decided to continue the joint position with an annual salary of £150 pa for the husband messenger plus £26 pa for the wife house-keeper. Notices inviting applicants for the position appeared in Sydney papers in mid-June. At the Council Meeting on 22 June, the Aldermen found that they had no less than 67 applicants for the position. The aldermen considered the applications in camera and then announced the appointment of John Phegan and wife at a reduced salary of £125 plus £26 pa (City Archives CRS 7/10/103). ‘The Northern Times’ of Newcastle (1 July) headlined its brief report “A sign of the times” in referring to the number of applicants and noted that the appointee was “a new arrival from Tasmania”.
The duties of messenger and housekeeper in 1857 encompassed more than the job-titles indicate to contemporary minds. Firstly, the position was a salaried one, albeit the lowest paid one. The salary was set in annual terms and the appointment lasted indefinitely unless specifically terminated by Council. Consequently, the position had a certain standing; in 19th Century terms the messenger was an ‘officer’ not just a ‘servant’ of Council. Secondly, the position carried responsibilities and its incumbent needed to be a literate person. The messenger, or office keeper as he is also described, was responsible for the working environment and security of the Town Hall as well as support to the Mayor in his role of chief executive officer. Patrick Barron who had held the position with his wife from 1843 to 1854 claimed to be at work from five o’clock in the morning until late at night. He wrote that his duties included attending the Mayor and Aldermen in all their meetings and attending Council officers when needed to convey messages, equipment and documents, to file newspapers and to fix the City Seal on documents. The messenger was also responsible for opening and locking up the Town Hall, for displaying official notices and dealing with members of the public calling at the Town Hall. He might also have been in charge of issuing any stores held at the Town Hall. His role in conveying messages was a crucial duty in a large organisation in the pre-telephone era. Barron listed among his wife’s duties cleaning the rooms, windows, furniture and water closets, preparing the inkstands, the fireplaces and candlesticks and making up the fires as required (City Archives CRS 26/4/158 January 1848). John Bailiff and his wife Mary Ann held the position from 1854 to June 1857 and when asked to describe his duties in May 1857 Bailiff, knowing he was about to resign (as he had tried to do earlier), wrote rather impatiently “I confess I am rather at a loss to describe my duties performed, they are so multifarious, and I am certain, Sir, that you must generally know them as well as I do. This much I can safely say that I am never at a loss for employment, but on the contrary, I am fully employed on an average about twelve hours daily, and for the three and a half years I have held my situation I have never been 2 hours absent from my duties. I have never had a single holiday and with very few exceptions have been obliged to work on the Sunday to keep the House in any sort of decent order” (City Archives CRS 22/1/9).
The Phegan couple commenced employment on 1 July 1857. They suffered the death of their daughter Catherine only weeks after commencing their City employment. The child was attended by Dr Isaac Aaron, the City Health Officer, and died at the Town Hall, then in King Street, of “dentition and meningitis”.
The Phegans fulfilled their duties competently. There were no complaints. When the salaries were set for the year in 1858, Phegan and his wife’s salaries were unchanged. On 3 July 1858, Phegan’s wife Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Honora Margaret. John Phegan’s age at this registration is stated to be 22 (birth year 1836/7) and his address is at King Street but inexplicably his occupation is recorded as ‘compositor’. Having completed a year of employment with Council, Phegan wrote requesting a supplementary payment for extra duties he had performed during the year (City Archives CRS 22/2/33). While sometimes prompted by their superior officer, it was customary for staff to seek increases of their wages annually or to request a gratuity for extra services. Such letters were sent to the Town Clerk who passed them on to the Finance Committee. That Committee made a recommendation which then went to a Council meeting where it might be debated.
Phegan’s letter displays his excellent hand-writing and his intelligence and asserts his competency. Phegan commenced his letter by a reminder that he had been selected for his office “by a great majority of votes” ahead of the 67 other applicants. He continued that this “marked confidence” had continued as he had committed no faults and that he had received the “encouragement” of Council and the Town Clerk. He then stated that his services as a clerk had been used in the “various departments of the establishment”. He drew attention to the fact that his salary was £25 less than previously paid and suggested that “His [predecessor’s] efficiency was no doubt deserving the full amount paid to him. Mine I flatter myself though not equally rewarded is fully as great”. He continued his request by pointing out that in the past the City had also employed an assistant messenger but no longer did and consequently had saved £129 pa in only employing one messenger. The letter was endorsed by Charles Woolcott, the Town Clerk, who noted that Phegan had regularly been employed by him in clerical duties when extra assistance was needed and had been of “great service”. His duties as messenger had been “attended to with much diligence”. The Finance Committee reported: “the applicant has been employed by the Town Clerk and in other departments and his services have been frequently found valuable and very efficient as an extra writing clerk” and noted “his ordinary duties of messenger and, his having charge of the Offices, have at all times been attended to with much diligence”. The Committee recommended the payment of £25 as an allowance.
The recommendation was debated in the Council meeting on 2 August 1858 and reported in the daily papers (‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 3 August 1858 and ‘Empire’ 3 August 1858). The motion to make the payment was moved by Alderman Thornton and seconded by Alderman Raper. Thornton said he could personally testify to Phegan’s services particularly during his mayoralty (1857). Alderman Northwood said that although he had opposed an increase in the salary of the messenger, Council had only paid Phegan for those services and he personally had seen Phegan writing till a late hour and “he knew he was well worth this allowance for that extra work”. After further debate, the motion was put and passed.
Phegan continued performing his duties well at the Town Hall. His salary remained unaltered for 1859 but, just as he had the year before, he requested a gratuity for the performance of “extra services” (City Archives CRS 22/3/38). This time in a letter dated 1 September to the Finance Committee, he made the assumption that he would receive the gratuity as his conduct had been good and he had performed valuable service as before. The Mayor, George Smith, requested a report from the Town Clerk, Woolcott, and he replied in similar terms as previously adding the extra details “He has become very useful in arranging and keeping in order the books and papers in the office … He is attentive to his duties and never idle when occupation can be found for him.” The Committee recommended that the payment be made while noting it should be discontinued in the future. The motion to pay Phegan was put at the meeting of 26 September and reported in the papers (‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 27 September 1859 and ‘Empire’ 27 September 1859). Alderman Northwood opposed the motion as a dangerous precedent but said Phegan performed efficiently. Alderman Broughton considered Phegan’s salary sufficient and noted he received lodging, fuel and light free of costs but stated “He was a very respectable man and fit for a higher situation”. Alderman Murphy said that Phegan had done the work and should be paid. Thurlow spoke in support of his motion and it was put and passed.
The year 1860 was to prove a disastrous year for John Phegan and members of his family. His brother Andrew came to Sydney and married Catherine O’Loughlin on 20 October 1859 and they had a child born in 1860 who died very soon after birth. His brother Richard, who was now in Melbourne, also lost a child, the four year old Belinda Margaret who died in March. Then Phegan’s own wife, Catherine Theresa, died at the Town Hall premises, by then in Wynyard Square, in May of “congestion of brain” suffered for three weeks. She had been attended by Dr Graham, the City Health Officer. Her death notice in the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ Monday 7 May 1860 read “At her late residence, 52 Wynyard-square, Sydney, on Sunday, the 6th instant, after a short illness, aged 22 years and 9 months, Catherine Theresa, wife of Mr. John Phegan, leaving a young child and a disconsolate husband to lament their loss.” Phegan’s young daughter, Honora, went to Tasmania to the care of her maternal grand-parents, Honora and John Bacon, who owned the property Belle Vue (or Belle View) on Lake Dulverton near Oatlands in the midlands. The family was further bereaved in September with the death of Andrew Phegan senior at Beechworth in Victoria.
[Further details relating to Phegan’s wife can be found on the City of Sydney website in the biographical ‘person’ registration for Catherine Phegan.]
Phegan requested leave to visit Tasmania in order to see his child and relatives in a letter dated 5 December 1860 to the Mayor (Murphy) and received permission for 14 days’ leave from 15 December (CRS 26/47/807). He was absent for longer and the new Mayor (Sutherland) directed the Town Clerk to ask why. In his reply dated 12 January in explaining his absence for the previous ten days and his failure to attend the office on the previous Friday, he suggested his leave was “for the period necessary to visit Tasmania which I supposed to be about a fortnight as stated in my application”. He said his return had been delayed because the regular steamer had been laid up on the slip and so he had had to make a two stage journey from Tasmania to Melbourne and then from Melbourne to Sydney. In relation to his absence on the Friday, he begged pardon and offered “in palliation” that he had been “assisting at the obsequies of a dear friend in Parramatta” (City Archives CRS 26/48/034). This friend appears to have been Daniel McClennan who, at the age of 33, had collapsed and died of a heart attack, leaving a widow and three children. (Funeral notices, articles on McClennan/McClellan, ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 10 January, SMH and ‘Empire’ 11 January 1861,’Sydney Mail’ 12 January 1861, NSW death registration indexed as Daniel Maclelan).
The coastal shipping records held by the Public Record Office of Victoria have two entries which seem to correlate with Phegan’s return voyage from Tasmania and they add further confusion to the question of his age. One voyage listed in VPRS 944 for a trip from Launceston to Melbourne has passenger John Phegan born 1833; the second voyage listed in VPRS 948 for a trip from Melbourne to Sydney aboard the ‘Wonga Wonga’ has passenger J Phegan age 34 (born c1826). The ‘Wonga Wonga’ made the round trip Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney several times per week.
Phegan was apparently struggling to manage his life and two weeks later he gave a month’s notice of his resignation to take effect on 1 March 1861 (City Archives CRS 26/48/096). He wrote:
“From continued ill health and other causes since the death of my wife I regret that I am compelled to resign the appointment I now hold under the Council from the 1st March.
“I would wish my heartfelt thanks to be conveyed to the Council for the many kind considerations evinced by its members towards me and I regret that the circumstances stated above will be the cause of my parting with an establishment of officers from whom for nearly four years I have experienced nothing but uninterrupted harmony and good wishes.”
Phegan in Braidwood
Phegan, suffering after the loss of his wife, was probably also finding his job more difficult and less rewarding as he was still responsible for the house-keeping duties performed by his wife as well as his own duties. Phegan left Sydney and made what was to be a fateful decision leading eventually to his death at the hands of a band of murderers. He headed for the gold mining district of Braidwood probably leaving Sydney in 1861. An advertisement by P Wilson of 200 Palmer St Sydney declared that unless John Phegan paid him ten pounds, the goods he had left behind would be sold (‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 1 May 1862). His brother Andrew also left Sydney and settled in Victoria while his brother Richard arrived in Sydney about this time and established a business at Balmain and eventually also at Cape Hawke as a shipwright. If later newspaper reports are correct, John Phegan was employed for a week with the ‘Braidwood Observer’ and then for a short period as a bookkeeper for Bush’s store in Wallace Street, Braidwood. He became a gold digger and worked a river claim on the Shoalhaven gravels at Nerriga, north of Braidwood. The NSW Department of Resources and Energy Fact Sheet on the Nerriga diggings states that most of the gold found was fine but there were occasionally large nuggets up to an incredible 240 ounces. The ‘Illawarra Mercury’ (27 November 1863) reprinted an article from the ‘Braidwood Despatch’ reporting the finding of a large nugget, solid gold and weighing over twenty seven ounces, in the vicinity of “Phegan’s claim” but Phegan was no longer working there.
Phegan was not content to work hard as he had shown he could in his employment with the City of Sydney. Instead, he perpetrated a foolish, opportunistic crime with very little skill or planning in evidence. His apprehension on charges of uttering a forgery was reported with much detail in two of the local newspapers (see an article from the ‘Braidwood Dispatch’ reprinted in ‘The Goulburn Herald’ 5 September 1863 and an article from the ‘Braidwood Observer’ reprinted in the ‘Sydney Mail’ 12 September 1863, the last of which spelt Phegan’s name as Fagan). He passed a cheque for £47 to Dudley Magrath of Corang. The cheque was on the Commercial Bank Goulburn on the account of Mr P Morrissey of the Telegraph Office at Braidwood and signed in his name but apparently looking nothing like his signature. Upon presentation, the bank rejected the cheque as Morrissey had in fact closed that account and had opened a new account at the Joint Stock Bank in Braidwood. Phegan was friendly with Morrissey and had taken blank cheques from his old cheque book. The ‘Braidwood Dispatch’ commented on Phegan’s good education and noted that his venture with the pick and shovel “has been very lucky and equally as improvident”. He was committed for trial and at the Braidwood Quarter Sessions in November was sentenced to three years with labour. He was transferred from Goulburn Gaol to Darlinghurst Gaol in Sydney in February 1864.
Phegan: the Final Years
It was at Darlinghurst Gaol that Phegan’s path crossed that of John Carroll, a warder there. Phegan seems to have been drawn into a strange episode related by the Reverend P. P. Agnew. Reverend Agnew had been for some 20 years a Chaplain at Darlinghurst Gaol and Cockatoo Island. Agnew had in July 1864 renounced the episcopal authority of the Anglican Bishop of Sydney and had set up the Free Church of England with considerable support. In September, the Colonial Secretary had asked Agnew to show cause why he should not be removed from the Chaplaincy as the Bishop had withdrawn his license to act as a clergyman of the Church of England. Agnew had stated various legal arguments in reply (‘Sydney Morning Herald’ 1 October 1864). His removal went ahead and was announced in November but apparently the reason for removal had changed and Agnew set about getting the newspapers to publish letters he had sent to the Colonial Secretary relating to the new cause for removal (‘Empire’ 17 November). Agnew’s tale does not reveal full names, using just initials, except in the case of Phegan. Agnew said he was persuaded on humanitarian grounds but against regulations to carry a letter from the prisoner J.R.C., George St bookseller, to his wife who was about to give birth. Unknown to him but known, Agnew said, to prison authorities, Phegan had inserted another letter in J.R.C.’s letter and Warder C — had been present at the receipt of the letter by J.R.C.’s wife and had arrested, without warrant, the person addressed in Phegan’s letter. The interception of the letter and his dismissal were part of the “system of espionage” in operation at the Gaol alleged Agnew. Agnew also took aim at other aspects of the Gaol’s administration writing “The arrangements as regards indulgences and remissions and exaction of sentences are carried out in a most arbitrary manner, and have seldom any reference to good conduct or actual service”. It may be that Phegan was in 1866 given just such an arbitrary remission of sentence at Carroll’s request some months before the expiration of his sentence although his remission may also have been justified by his “very good” behaviour noted on his prison record.
While Phegan was still in gaol, the Braidwood district where he had been a gold miner suffered from attacks by the Clarke Gang of bushrangers.
New South Wales had been plagued in the 1860s by an outbreak of vicious bushranging which seemed to defy police and government efforts to suppress and had led to the passing of the Felons Apprehension Act in April 1865. The Act contained provisions for proclaiming a person an “outlaw”. It also contained severe penalties (imprisonment, forfeiture of land and goods) for “harbourers” – persons who had given sustenance, supplies or firearms to outlaws. Additionally, the NSW Government had proclaimed very large rewards for the apprehension of specific bushrangers. With the deaths of Gilbert, Dunn, Morgan and Hall by mid 1865 it seemed that the day of the bushranger in NSW might be over. It was not so. In October, a group of men in the Braidwood district led by Thomas Clarke began what was to become a continuing series of attacks on homesteads, travellers, mail coaches, Chinese gold miners, households and stores in settlements with thefts of goods, horses and money. Some of those held up were injured as well as robbed. The gang included his relatives Pat Connell and Tom Connell and later his brother John Clarke. Peter C Smith has written a comprehensive account of the gang, the families and the community and the official responses. He writes “The Clarke Gang became arguably the worst and most troublesome bushrangers of all time. However, it was not just the Clarke and Connell brothers the authorities had to rein in. At the heart of the outbreak was an entrenched network of harbourers and sympathisers whose support eclipsed that for all other bushrangers and fuelled a reign of terror in the Southern District of New South Wales.” (‘The Clarke Gang’ p18)
During 1865, the Clarkes and Connells and their gang were suspected of horse stealing, the murder of a Chinese man, Ah Fow, (although other Chinese were later charged but acquitted of his murder) and the murder of an Aboriginal man whom they might have suspected of being a police tracker; they were clearly implicated in the six-hour long hold up and robbery on 29 December 1865 of Foxlow Station, owned by John Hosking, the first Mayor of Sydney, where goods worth more than £200 were stolen, including shotguns, saddles including a side-saddle, food, cloth and clothing for men, women and children, wine, spirits, tobacco and eau-de-cologne. In 1866, the activities of the gang increased. Travellers were held up, some assaulted, and relieved of money; stores at Jembaicumbene, Gundaroo, Caledonia and Michelago were ransacked for money, supplies and clothing; mail coaches were robbed. A police attempt to capture the gang members at Mudmelong in February resulted in total fiasco when four of the police were captured and had their guns and ammunition stolen. The attacks on mail coaches continued; the gang raided the Bungendore Police Barracks when the police were absent; they held up pubs and stores and bashed up a man they believed had been a juryman in a trial of one of the family. In April 1866, the gang held up travellers going to Nerrigundah, wounding one severely, and then rode into the township and proceeded to round up everyone to be found and robbed them and the store and hotel. There were two policemen in the town and in the attempt to stop the robberies a shoot-out ensued and Constable O’Grady was killed as was William Fletcher who had just joined the gang that day. This episode led directly to the outlawing of Tommy Clarke and Pat Connell, “an outcome that many had predicted as inevitable given their reckless disregard for the law and their numerous shoot-outs with police. Up until now it had been just a matter of luck that murder had not been added to their record of robberies and assaults” (Peter C Smith ‘The Clarke Gang’ p 275).
The attacks continued unabated through the next few months and pressure mounted on the NSW government to do something about it. Tommy Clarke and Pat Connell were proclaimed outlaws and very large rewards were offered for their capture, £500 for Tommy Clarke and £300 for Pat Connell. In July, Tommy Clarke, Pat Connell and others for the fourth time held up Morris’s hotel at Mudmelong and everyone who came into the town was robbed. The next day a police group located and chased after several of the gang and Pat Connell was shot and killed. In response, the gang seemed to become more vicious. They raided the Araluen Police Station at Newtown. They continued to rob homesteads and the mail coaches. They revisited Foxlow Station twice more. On the third visit by the gang, one of the Connells bashed the superintendent, Vallance, for having identified gang members in the previous robberies. Once again they took food, clothing for men and women, and other goods.
The Colonial Secretary was Henry Parkes and he now decided to take an active role to bring about the capture of the Clarke Gang. Parkes was responsible for the Police Department and had instructed the Inspector-General of Police to report to him daily but he decided additionally to appoint a party of special constables who would operate independently and in fact as a secret police independent of the regular police. The first such party of special police, Flynn’s party, was unsuccessful. In the meanwhile, John Carroll, warder at Darlinghurst Gaol had successfully deceived and tricked a prisoner there into revealing where he had hidden gold stolen from the steamship ‘Barwon’ and was able to claim the £500 reward. Parkes was impressed with him and Carroll decided to try for the £500 reward for the capture of Tommy Clarke. Carroll put a proposal to Parkes to form a group of special constables and selected Patrick Kennagh a warder at Darlinghurst, Eneas MacDonnell a warder at Yass Gaol and John Phegan serving his sentence at Darlinghurst Gaol to make up his party. Phegan was chosen because of his presumed knowledge of the Braidwood district.
Carroll’s Party were instructed by Parkes on 22 September 1866 to go to Braidwood to capture Thomas Clarke and his associates. Carroll was only to be paid if successful and in that case he was also to be rewarded by appointment to a suitable public office. The members of his party were to be paid seven shillings per day (a rate only a little less than that earned by Phegan as messenger) which would be increased to ten shillings per day if successful. On arrival at Braidwood, they were to be sworn in by the Justices of the Peace, Rodd and Bennison. Their presence was not notified to the regular police in the district and they were to proceed independently of them. Carroll was to report directly to Parkes.
The party intended to put themselves about as a team of surveyors. In this guise they visited Clarke’s mother and sisters on their property believing they could gain their trust and put into operation a plan to trick the gang members. It seems clear that the family was well aware of their true identity within a very short time. Barely a week had passed before an armed gang attacked the fake surveyors at their camp near the Clarke property engaging in a prolonged shoot-out perhaps meant more as intimidation than as a purposeful attempt to kill. Carroll reported the attack to Parkes still believing that the Clarkes had not “the remotest suspicion of who we really were”. Nevertheless it certainly caused Carroll to change his plans from an attempt to capture Clarke by deception and trickery. Carroll became aware of what he called “the well organised system known as bush-telegraphs which exist throughout the whole district” finding that their arrival was always expected as they travelled about the countryside without ever sighting gang members.
Carroll now revealed himself and party as Special Constables and turned his efforts to the prosecution of members of the Clarke and Connell families for “harbouring”, intending to reduce the bushrangers’ support and claim the £200 reward payable for a successful prosecution. In his report to Parkes he wrote “It is a matter of surprise to me that, unassisted by legal advice, and opposed directly by local influences, and directly and covertly by several members of the police, I succeeded in getting committals in even three instances.” Carroll also cited the effects of “the disturbed state of the district and the dread which the bushrangers have inspired”. He lamented the fact that all those he had brought before the court had either been discharged or allowed out on bail so that they were all still able to assist the bushrangers. (Carroll’s communications to Parkes and later communications to Parkes from Police authorities were all tabled in Parliament and can be found in NSW Parliamentary Votes and Proceedings online for July 1867and in Sydney newspapers 2 October 1867).
Carroll’s arrests and prosecutions upset not only the Clarkes, but also the police and others in Braidwood. He arrested the Griffin brothers who had been secretly informing on the gang to individual members of police. He also verbally attacked police in court and said he had received more opposition from police than from the gang. Carroll underestimated the amount of support the gang had in the district, given either for fear or favour. He decided to begin active pursuit of the gang and to move into their home territory. The party proceeded toward Jinden Station, managed by Ned Smith, believed to be a Clarke sympathiser. On the way, they spotted James Griffin, brother of Patrick and Michael whom Carroll had prosecuted as harbourers. They had a midday meal with Michael Connell aka O’Connell who was out on bail after Carroll’s prosecution of him and who had at one time threatened to shoot Carroll. Peter C Smith comments:
“’The Specials’ very presence at enemy headquarters shows their ignorance of the danger they were in, their foolhardiness and arrogance. They were now on the bushrangers’ turf and out of their depth. They had seen James Griffin and knew he was a bush telegraph yet appeared oblivious to the danger.” (p 430)
They stayed overnight at Jinden Station leaving on foot in the morning of 9 January 1867. Carroll’s party went to Hezekiah Watt’s property and saw a young man, George Smith, there. He had seen a group of horsemen about and advised Carroll to take care and avoid the tracks. They did not return as planned to Jinden and the next day Ned Smith sent John Lynn out to make enquiries. He found the bodies of Phegan and McDonnell on a track about 2km from the homestead. They had been shot. Further search found the bodies of Carroll and Kennagh, also shot. Tracks were found of three horses and possibly of four men. Eneas McDonnell had been shot in the thigh, severing the femoral artery causing rapid bleeding to death. John Phegan had been shot in the right side and then as he lay wounded on the track he was shot a second time on the left side. Patrick Kennagh had been shot while in a kneeling position with the bullet entering his neck and taking a downward path. John Carroll was shot in the chest also while in a kneeling position. On Carroll’s chest, there was a red silk handkerchief on which was a one pound note held in place by a piece of wood. A clear reference to “blood money”. Personal possessions and money were left on the bodies. Most of the armament of the party had been taken including their prized revolving rifles.
Phegan had on him five shillings and three pence in silver and a leather purse with a portrait of a woman and a lock of plaited hair. His was a terrible end to a life that at one time had shown promise of happiness and achievement. In accepting Carroll’s offer to join his party, Phegan may have been seizing an opportunity for redemption or simply taking the chance to earn a wage with the prospect of collecting some reward money. Peter Smith wrote of Carroll’s party:
“… it was a tragic end. They became victims of the lawlessness in a callous act of assassination unprecedented in bushranging history.” (Peter C Smith, p440)
The killings gave rise to a swell of public indignation and much hostility to the police and the politicians who had failed to curb the bushranging outbreak. Opinion was not unanimous that the Clarke gang was responsible and some expressed their beliefs that members of the police force may have been involved. The newspapers gave full coverage and local correspondents told all they knew of the killings and the victims. Huge public meetings were held in the Braidwood and Araluen districts. The Government responded in many ways. The Government issued an “Extraordinary Proclamation” to the people of the district which included a £5000 reward for the apprehension of the unnamed murderers. A special closed Braidwood Commission of Inquiry was held in February seeking causes and information about the bushranging outbreak by interviewing 57 witnesses. Arrests were made of Clarke associates now charged with harbouring or assault or robbery. More than 150 police, both regulars and ‘specials’, were sent to the area. The Clarkes continued to evade police and committed more robberies. Two of their gang members, James Dornan and Bill Scott, were found dead of head injuries in March and April, killed by unidentified assailants.
In the course of bringing information about the murdered Special Constables to the public, many newspapers published reports saying that Phegan “had been in some connection with Clarke’s gang, knew the country and had served his sentence”. This led Phegan’s brother, Richard who was in Sydney living at Balmain, to write a carefully worded refutation to the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ (published 19 January 1867). Phegan said
“The only proper inference from this is that my brother had been associated with this lawless gang in their outrages, and had suffered imprisonment as a punishment for it. Nothing can be farther removed from the real facts than such an assertion. My brother never had any connection with Clarke or with his associates He may, probably, have made the acquaintance of some of the party while he was engaged as a miner, but he never had any connection, direct or indirect, with their bushranging. I would scarcely trouble you with these remarks, did I not fear that many of the friends of my brother, both here and in Tasmania his native place, might be misled by reading the Herald's account of the late tragical occurrence, and be induced to fancy that he had been in some illegal manner connected with the outlaw Clarke
I am, Sir, yours truly, R. PHEGAN. Pearson Street, Balmain, January 13th”
The Clarke brothers were eventually captured in April in a shoot-out that saw Johnny Clarke shot in the shoulder, Constable Walsh shot in the leg and the indigenous tracker, Sir Watkin, shot so badly in an arm that it had to be amputated. The Government and police had a choice of charges to lay against the Clarkes and others to achieve their end of securing convictions of gang members for capital offences. The Clarke brothers were charged with shooting and wounding with intent to kill Constable Walsh and tracker Sir Watkin. James Griffin was arrested and charged with the murder of Carroll. A consideration determining these prosecutions was to ensure that Griffin did not have the chance to turn Queen’s Evidence against the Clarkes and so gain himself a pardon. The Clarkes were found guilty and sentenced to death and were hanged on 25 June 1867. The Clarke brothers continued to their final days to deny that they had had any part in the assassination of the special police. Griffin was acquitted of the murder of Carroll as witnesses gave contradictory or confusing evidence. Griffin was then charged with the murder of Kennagh and, with the Clarkes no longer alive, a number of witnesses, including Ned Smith of Jinden, now changed their evidence, clearly committing perjury in one or other trial, but this time Griffin was found guilty and sentenced to death (later commuted). Michael Connell aka O’Connell was tried for harbouring and was found guilty, sentenced to 7 years and his property was forfeit although this last penalty was not carried out. Patrick and Michael Griffin were acquitted of harbouring as evidence of their secret help to police was given. William Bruce was charged with the robbery at Mudmelong in which the police were captured but he was acquitted.
The bodies of the murdered Special Constables had been hastily interred at the site of their deaths some forty miles out of Braidwood. There were no coffins, no Christian burial or proper interment. The public outcry was furious. The Colonial Secretary, Parkes, ordered that an undertaker with four coffins be sent and the bodies disinterred and brought to Braidwood for proper burial. The horrific task of disinterring and bringing the bodies back to Braidwood in the summer heat and rain took three full days so it was not until 18 January (nine days after the murders) that a funeral procession of some 150 people accompanied the bodies to the Catholic cemetery. As the Catholic priest was out of town, the service was read by D. E. Finnegan, the teacher at the Catholic school.
A four sided monument was later erected at their burial site in the cemetery, each side bearing the name of one of the Special Constables with the inscription “One of the special constables murdered at Jinden 9th January 1867 whilst in pursuit of the outlaw Thomas Clarke”.
Genealogical notes on the Phegan family:
Great care is needed in sorting out the genealogical facts relating to the Phegan family. Firstly, many variants of the surname ‘Phegan’ occur in official documents, contemporary records and newspaper accounts. The following variations have been found: Peagan, Phegan, Phagan, Pagin, Fagan and Fegan. Secondly, there are many inconsistencies in the dates given by family members for family events such as births and marriages. It seems probable that a number of such events were never officially registered. There are instance also of deliberate inaccuracies by family members relating either to dates or occupational history.
Andrew PHEGAN born c 1809 in Queens County Ireland married Margaret DELANEY born c 1814; marriage date 6 July 1831 Kilkenny Ireland; enlisted English army 7 June 1827; arrived Hobart Town per ‘Lord Lyndoch’ October 1833. Andrew PHEGAN died 19 September 1860 at Beechworth Victoria. Margaret PHEGAN married (2) George BATTERSON (PHAGAN & BATTISON) 22 May 1862 Tasmania; she died 29 June 1885 Tasmania.
Family of Andrew PHEGAN and Margaret DELANEY:
(1) James or James Joseph PHEGAN born c 1832 in England (according to death registration); John [sic] Joseph FEGAN boat builder married Bridget MANNING 14 March 1858 Torquay Tasmania; FEGAN Age 26, MANNING age 22; Bridget is also recorded as MANIAN. Possible second marriage to Margaret O’BRIEN in Victoria 1870. James died 13 September 1888, age 56, at Launceston formerly of Hamilton-on-Forth
Issue: Margaret born and died 1860 Tasmania; James born 1862 Victoria, Bridget born 1865 Victoria and possibly died 1866.
(2) Richard or Richard Michael PHEGAN born 1 October 1834 at Hobart Town Tasmania married (1) Mary Ann (Minnie) LOWE born 20 January 1837 Hobart Town; marriage date 12 February 1855 at Hobart Town; Mary Ann (Minnie) died 11 September 1894 at Paddington NSW. Richard married (2) Mary CASSON 8 July 1896 at Sydney; Richard died 14 September 1916 Canterbury NSW.
Issue of Richard and Mary Ann PHEGAN nee LOWE possibly as follows: Belinda Margaret born 1855 Hobart Town Tasmania died 13 March 1860 Victoria; Emma born 1860 Melbourne Victoria, ?died 1889 at Balmain NSW; Richard Andrew born 1863 Balmain NSW; John J born 1864 at Balmain NSW, presumed died as infant; John Joseph born 1867 at Balmain NSW, married Catherine STEWART at Balmain NSW, died 1925 Burwood NSW; George W born 1868 at Balmain NSW; Richard (possibly Ernest) born 1872 at Port Stephens NSW; Herbert Henry born 1873 at Port Stephens NSW; Albert born 1876 at Port Stephens NSW married Mary E Mitchell 1896 Sydney; Minnie born 1878 at Port Stephens NSW; James L born ?; Ernest born ? married Marion Brady 1894 Sydney.
(3) John or John Joseph PHEGAN born c 1836 married Catherine Theresa Bacon (parents John BACON d September 1864 Oatlands Tasmania and Honora COPELAND d October 1891 Oatlands Tasmania, married1833 Tasmania); Catherine BACON was born 1847 in Tasmania; marriage (?) date 16 October 1855 in Ross Tasmania; Catherine died 6 May 1860 in Sydney; John died at Jinden Station near Braidwood NSW 9 January 1867.
Issue of John and Catherine: Catherine born c1856 in Tasmania, died 24 July 1857 Sydney; Honora Margaret born 3 July 1858 Sydney married Thomas DEERING 23 January 1889 at Glen Innes, died 17 February 1919 Oatlands Tasmania. Issue: Thomas DEERING born 1892 Emmaville NSW and Margaret DEERING born 1889 Emmaville NSW.
(4) Andrew or Andrew Barnabas PHEGAN born c 1838 Hobart Town married Catherine O’LOUGHLAN 20 October 1859 in Sydney. Andrew died 1868 in Victoria.
Issue of Andrew and Catherine: Catherine born and died 1860 Sydney; Andrew Thomas born 1861 Melbourne Victoria, died 1862 Victoria; Frank born 1864 Melbourne Victoria; Elizabeth born 1867 Victoria.
In Tasmania, Andrew PHEAGAN age 21 married Margaret CONNORS age 15 on 13 February 1879; [Andrew born c1858]; relationship to Phegan family of Andrew Phegan and Margaret Delaney is unclear; possibly a son of James PHEGAN and Bridget MANNING. Resident at Forth (Hamilton-on-Forth) Tasmania for many years. Issue includes Catherine born 1883, Edmund born 1884, John Joseph born 1888, Ernest Dominic born & died 1889, Albert Francis born 1891, Mary Gertrude born 1895, Richard Leslie born 1899.
[This biographical Person registration was researched and drafted by City of Sydney Archives volunteer Marilyn Mason, December 2017]
References
City of Sydney Archives: CRS 7 Minutes of City of Sydney Council; CRS 26 Letters Received; CRS 22 Reports of the Finance Committee. (Many of the records in these series have item descriptions or are digitised and available online: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au)
online reference
Australian Newspapers digitised by the National Library of Australia: www. trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
NSW Births Deaths Marriages Registry, http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/family-history.aspx
Tasmania Records, Wills, Births Deaths Marriages, Linc Tasmania online: https://www.linc.tas.gov.au/Pages/Home.aspx
Victoria Births Deaths Marriages online: https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/
Public Record Office Victoria (PROV): https://www.prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/explore-topic/passenger-records-and-immigration
Parliament of NSW, parliamentary papers: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/hansard/Pages/Comprehensive-index-to-all-parliamentary-document.aspx
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: https://www.familysearch.org/
NSW State Archives and Records: https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/
Australia’s Redcoat Settlers, created by Barrie and Margaret Chapman: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~garter1/
Australian Dictionary of Biography online: adb.anu.edu/au.biography
Charles White: ‘History of Australian Bushranging Volume 2, Chapter XVIII The Brothers Clarke’, online: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/12/1201971h.html
NSW Department of Resources and Energy, Prime Fact Sheet 571, ‘Nerriga gold deposits’, produced by NSW Department of Primary Industries, 2007: https://www.resourcesandenergy.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/109775/nerriga-gold-deposits.pdf
Other references:
Transcriptions of NSW Birth, Death or Marriage Registrations by NSW Family History Transcriptions Pty Ltd
Australian Vital Records Index (AVR), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: CD collection
Peter C Smith, ‘The Clarke Gang: Outlawed, Outcast and Forgotten’, published by Rosenberg, 2015
Keith A Johnson and Malcolm R Sainty, ‘Sydney Burial Ground 1819-1901 (Elizabeth and Devonshire Streets) and History of Sydney’s Early Cemeteries from 1788’, Library of Australian History, 2001Relationship legacy dataRELATED TO: Town Clerks Department AG-0040 - Worked inGenderMaleOccupational historyMessenger, 22 June 1857 to 1 March 1861. [his wife Catherine Theresa Phegan was appointed Office Keeper 22 June 1857 until her death on 6 May 1860]Source system ID56
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CollectionPeople and PositionsRelated agenciesTown Clerk's Department
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Phegan, John Joseph [PE-000056]. City of Sydney Archives, accessed 19 Apr 2024, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/609982