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Patrick Riley (178?-1858)

Patrick Riley (also known as Johnson Riley) was an Irish carpenter from Dublin who was tried at Limerick in August 1812. He was sentenced to transportation for life and arrived in New South Wales on the convict transport The Three Bees in May 1814.

The names of Patrick Riley and William Temple are listed consecutively in the 1814 Muster as members of the same 'Gaol Gang', and later they were both recorded as absent (on two separate occasions) from the Lumber Yard in Sydney where they had been assigned. Riley was reassigned to the Lumber Yard in Newcastle. In 1816 he escaped but was recaptured and returned to Newcastle to complete his sentence.

In mid-January 1820 he appeared before Commissioner J.T. Bigge to give evidence regarding his knowledge of the different timbers available in the colony and their relative merits and uses. He remained in Newcastle until 1821 when he received a conditional pardon.

There is additional evidence to suggest that he may have stayed in the Newcastle region after this date: he may be the Patrick Riley of Aberglasslyn, near West Maitland, who died at Richardson Point, Meroo [Louisa Creek] on 22 July 1858.

References:

Primary Sources
Bonwick Transcripts Box 5, pp 2272-8. [Mitchell Library, Sydney. ML Ref: Bigge Appendix, B.T. Box 5]
Census of New South Wales, November 1828. Edited by Malcolm R. Sainty and Keith A. Johnson. Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1980.
The Evidence to the Bigge Reports; New South Wales under Governor Macquarie. Selected and edited by John Ritchie. Melbourne: Heinemann, 1971. 2 vols. (See Volume 1 The Oral Evidence pp.112-114).
General Muster of New South Wales,1814. Edited by Carol J. Baxter. Sydney: Australian Biographical and Genealogical Record, 1987.
Maitland Mercury 7 August 1858.
Newcastle As A Convict Settlement: the evidence before J.T. Bigge in 1819-21. Edited by J.W.Turner. Newcastle: Newcastle Public Library, 1973 (see footnotes pp.167 - 168).
N.S.W. Colonial Secretary. Records. Out-Letters: Campbell to Wallis, 31 December, 1816.
N.S.W. Colonial Secretary. Register of Conditional Pardons. Vol.1, p.183.

Secondary Sources
Bateson, C. The Convict Ships: 1787-1868. Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson, 1969 [2nd edition].

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