Battle of Vinegar Hill

On the morning of Monday 5 March 1804 men in drab convict clothes moved through the trees of Castle Hill in an area mostly unsettled, carrying guns, pitchforks and poles.

At the same time, no one could miss the red coated officers and men of the NSW Corp led by Major George Johnston as they and their civilian supporters strode along the Windsor Road after a quick march from Sydney Town during the night. Governor King had been warned that a band of Irish convicts had broken out of the Castle Hill Barracks the night before with the intention of joining other rebel convicts and marching firstly on Parramatta and then on to Sydney to seize ships in the harbour and make their way to Ireland and freedom.

The rebels never made it to Parramatta but turned away towards the north-west. Major Johnston caught up with them and the ensuing battle saw 15 convicts killed and the others punished and returned to imprisonment. Many convicts in this first organised uprising in the new colony were political prisoners and members of the United Irishmen's Society - a union of Irish Catholics and Protestants seeking a united and independent Ireland. They were concentrated in the Barracks at Castle Hill to work on the Government Farm which had been set up to provide food for the Colony. This gave them the opportunity to discus their beliefs and their dreams and to plan their bid to freedom. Unfortunately plans were easier to make than to carry out. It was very difficult to get word to the other convict barracks and to sympathisers in the towns. It was impossible to stop an informer from going to the authorities in Parramatta. Six years previously, in Wexford County Ireland, a similar battle had been fought at a place called Vinegar Hill - the name was transferred to this battle on the outskirts of Sydney. The original battle on 21 June 1798 at Enniscorthy was a victory for the British and many Irishmen were killed or executed and many more were transported to the new colony of Australia.

Painting by Lizzy Newcomb depicting the Battle of Vinegar Hill 1804.

The soldiers were under the leadership of Major George Johnston. Some of the armed citizens from the Parramatta area joined them. When the opposing sides met, a Catholic Priest, Father Dixon tried to negotiate a truce without bloodshed. The Irish leaders thought that Major Johnston had agreed to talk and stepped up to him. He took them prisoner and ordered his troops to fire on the rebels.

While the government forces were greatly outnumbered and much better armed, they had no problem in claiming immediate victory and the convicts scattered during the confusion.

Official records of the day record fifteen rebel deaths on the field and over three hundred captured. None of the Government forces were killed or wounded.

Phillip Cunningham was badly wounded and was hung immediately for his part in the uprising. William Johnston and two fellow convicts were hung at Castle Hill. There were five other hangings as well as severe sentences of lashings.

The name Vinegar Hill was also used 50 years later as the password for entry to the Eureka Stockade.

Commemorating this particular event in Australian history is not to pay tribute to a Battle, or to revive the sectarian and authoritarian issues that led to the rebellion almost 200 years ago.

The survivors of the battle from both camps, and their children after them, were the pioneers of this nation. Few of them had a choice in whether or not they came to this isolated land so far from all they knew. A great many on both sides stayed and became worthy citizens of a new country where differences could be settled without the bloodshed suffered at Vinegar Hill.