Our Christopher Rowland- a convict?

When I first starting researching my family history I heard a family story that Aunty Edith told that there was a convict in the family. It didn't take long to find out that Catherine Rowland's father was Christopher Rowland, and there was a convict called Christopher Rowland. What I wasn't so sure about for many years, was whether this convict was actually 'our' Christopher Rowland.

Somebody told me you needed to find something like a ticket-of-leave number on a wedding registration to prove a convict link. I never found that, but in 2020 lockdown I believe I have discovered a compelling trail of evidence that shows our Christopher was indeed a convict.

Christopher Rowland was tried and convicted for ‘stolen copper’ on 30 July, 1834, in Cork City, Ireland. He was aged 25, could read and write, and was married with two male children. He was a gardener’s labourer, and farm-labourer. He was sentenced to seven years, and was transported from Ireland on the ship “Hero” that arrived in New South Wales on 31 August, 1835.

He was granted a ticket of leave, No 39/2105, on 11 November 1839, and he was allowed to remain in the district of Braidwood. Braidwood is a town located on the Kings Highway linking Canberra with Batemans Bay. It is approximately 200 kilometres south west of Sydney, 60 kilometres inland from the coast, and fifty-five from Canberra.

When I first found this ticket of leave, I doubted this convict could be the same Christopher Rowland who married Margaret Barnall in 1843, as Braidwood is a long way from Melbourne.


However, I then found two more documents that showed how Christopher Rowland the convict was able to move to Melbourne in 1840.

Christopher Rowland was granted a Ticket of Leave Passport, No 40/186 in May 1840, and he was “allowed to proceed to Port Phillip in the employ of J Hawdon Esq for twelve months”, on the recommendation of J Hawdon Esq.


Joseph Hawdon, the employer of Christopher Rowland, had an article published about him in the Australian Dictionary of Biography in 1966. He first settled near Bateman’s Bay in 1834. In 1836 he began overlanding cattle to Port Philip (Melbourne). In about 1839 “He now made his headquarters in Melbourne, where he lived on his property, Banyule, at Heidelberg.”

So with the ticket-of-leave passport recommended by Joseph Hawdon, Christopher Rowland the convict was able to move from Braidwood, NSW, to Heidelberg, Melbourne, in 1840.

I have not found another Christopher Rowland in the area, and I think it is highly likely that this Christopher Rowland, the convict, is indeed the father of Catherine Rowland, whose abode at her birth in 1845 was Heidelberg.


References:
-Convict details originally obtained from Auckland Public Library, AO Fiche #714, Printed indents 1835 (X637) P118-119 
 
-Hawdon, Joseph (1813-1871) by Alan Gross, published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1 (MUP), 1966

-Biographical Database of Australia- images of ticket of leave (1839)and ticket of leave passport (1840)