McKane, Patrick

Patrick McKane, or Kean, was an Irish convict who was working as a labourer at Lane Cove when, with fellow convicts Edward McHugh and John White (or Wright), he broke into the house of Richard Jenner at Kissing Point in July 1810, assaulting his wife and manservant and making off with money, clothes and other sundries. A local Aboriginal man, Bundle, tracked Kean by his footprint which showed two prominent nails in the sole of his shoe, and he was arrested by the constable James Squire. The three men were found guilty and sentenced to lashes and hard labour. McKane died in a boating accident at Broken Bay in 1824 soon after receiving his ticket of leave.