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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
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Convict uprising at Castle Hill 5 March 1804

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Convict uprising at Castle Hill 5 March 1804

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National Library of Australia

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Castle Hill Castle Hill convict rebellion 1804 Irish in Sydney from First Fleet to Federation Law and order

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Convicts Demonstrations and protests Irish

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Castle Hill convict rebellion 1804

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Castle Hill

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Castle Hill

Originally Dharug country, the area that became Castle Hill was granted to settlers in the 1790s and some set aside for the Government Farm in the 1800s. Sydney's only convict rebellion started there in 1804. Farming gave way to orchards and later market gardens. By the 1960s Sydney was encroaching, and Castle Hill has since turned into a residential suburb.

Law and order

The politics of law and order were present at the foundation of Sydney as a convict settlement. They have remained part of the fabric ever since, and a vital aspect of the city's imagined life. Like many other parts of the city (its churches, its schools, its hospitals), the institutions of law and justice are a material aspect of the values and experiences of those who inhabit the city.

Castle Hill convict rebellion 1804

Tied closely to the 1798 rebellion in Ireland, and sparked by news of further uprisings in Ireland in 1803, the Castle Hill rebellion was a serious threat to the government of New South Wales and was quickly crushed.

Irish in Sydney from First Fleet to Federation

A large part of Sydney's European community from its earliest days, the Irish helped shape the colony and its cultural and religious institutions. While many Irish immigrants, both convict and free, prospered and flourished in Sydney throughout the nineteenth century, they rarely forgot their homeland and its struggles, and remained a community which never thought of England as 'home'.

Convicts

Demonstrations and protests

Irish

Castle Hill convict rebellion 1804

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Uprising by Irish prisoners at Castle Hill, north-west of Sydney, that was put down by the New South Wales Corps with 12 rebels killed and 9 later executed.

Castle Hill

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North-western suburb which was a Government Farm at the turn of the nineteenth century, and later the location of many orchards and market gardens, which have since given way to residential development.