Lithgow - The convict stockades

From around 1815, a growing number of stockades in New South Wales housed gangs of convicts used to build new roads and public buildings. A close look at the history of Lithgow, a tranquil town nestled on the western edge of the Blue
Mountains, reveals Australia’s most important site of convict stockades.

The term stockade originally described the fence, approximately five metres high, that was erected around the huts as a simple precaution against escape. As time went on the meaning of the term gradually widened to include the huts themselves, and other associated buildings such as guards’ barracks, officer’s quarters, kitchens and storerooms. Some stockades, depending on precise location and the nature of the convicts housed there, were built without any fence at all. Around the stockades grew small villages, complete with butchers, bakers and other such amenities. The wives and children of the officers lived in these villages, and suffered greatly from the consequent isolation.

Generally the convicts spent their days in chains while they worked on the roads, and were then locked up at night. These were some of the hardest criminals, repeat offenders who were considered as a scourge on society, unsuitable even to be assigned to a land owner. They worked in a range of three miles in either direction from the stockade. In the morning they would be handed their tools and marched to their place of work under supervision of soldiers. In the evening, after a day of back breaking labour, they would be marched back and locked up again.

There were two classes of convict who worked on the roads. The more trusted among them worked as carpenters or stonemasons further away, living in huts along the road and working free of irons. Ultimately, through good behaviour and hard work in these trying conditions, many of these convicts would earn their freedom.

Not all of all the convicts were willing to wait for their liberty, and some decided to take matters into their own hands. On occasion they even had help from the constables who looked after the stockade. One of the more unusual examples was a man named Richard Vowell. Vowell had served in the South American Wars as a Major in the Bolivian Army, under the command of Simón Bolívar. In 1825, when Bolivia finally gained its independence from Spain, Vowell came to New South Wales and got a job as a constable and clerk at the Number 2 Stockade.

Number 2 Stockade, properly known as Mount Walker Convict Stockade, was the largest of those set up in the 1830s. When the convicts were no longer required at stockade Number 1 at Mount Victoria they moved on to Mount Walker. At its peak it accommodated up to five hundred people, including military guards, surveyors and other officials, as well as the convicts. Situated on the bank of the Coxs River the stockade was about 50m by 50m. Inside this enclosure were the convict huts, security lanterns and flogging triangles. The remaining buildings, including the officers’ quarters, a blacksmith shop, a butcher, a baker and two hospitals were alongside but outside the stockade itself.

Having arrived at Mount Walker, Vowell told tales of his adventures in South America and soon the enthusiasm and enterprising spirit of the convicts, and some of his fellow constables, was fired. He persuaded them that a better future lay for them in South America and that he could help them achieve it. And so, with a crew including four privates from the Kings Own Regiment and four trustee convicts, he set off for Twofold Bay with a plan to steal a whaling vessel and head for South America. They were caught before they reached the coast and were taken to Norfolk Island, where Vowell spent seven years in prison for his trouble.

It was more common than might be imagined for constables to collude with convicts and to arrange for travellers to be robbed, but Vowell’s crime was considered far more serious. Unfortunately for all those left behind at the stockade his ultimately futile escapade only served to incense the Commander, who responded by taking a firmer line on his convicts. They were punished for Vowell’s sins. The few comforts they had been used to were removed, damaged huts were not fixed and convicts were left in sodden clothes after working in the rain. Their tough lives became even tougher.

In the Greater Lithgow area, stockades were built at Mount Victoria, Hassans Walls, Bowens Hollow, Mount Kirkley and Mount Walker. These areas were of great importance for the development of a road network in the 1830s. It was now two decades since the first convict road had been built across the Blue Mountains. As a result western New South Wales was developing fast.

Few traces remain now of the stockade buildings, which were such a feature of New South Wales in the first half of the nineteenth century. As a result of rural and urban development in the 1970s a lot of these buildings were lost. Over the ensuing period many people came to appreciate the urgency of capturing this fascinating history before it became impossible to be recovered.

A picture of life at these stockades has been painstakingly pieced together from official written accounts and magistrate’s records, as well as archaeological digs. One such dig was organised in 1994 and discovered artefacts including military buttons, tools and domestic items that reveal fascinating details of the everyday workings of these important but often forgotten establishments which are such an important part of our history.