Dennis Dogherty
Arrived 183- on the Aurora
Deserter
Not even men in uniform were spared the gruelling punishment of transportation. Desertion from the military was regarded as a serious crime, as Irishman Dennis Dougherty found out.
Dennis Dougherty (also Dogherty) was a 19-year-old soldier from Londonderry, Ireland, when he deserted his regiment on its way to India in early 1833. Captured soon after, he was court-martialled and sent to New South Wales on the Aurora. Life in the colony was hard. As a gang worker at the Hyde Park Barracks, Dougherty was repeatedly flogged for running away, assault and disobedience. Following a series of failed escapes, and convictions for bushranging and robbery, he was finally sentenced to a stint at the notorious Port Arthur. By all accounts Dougherty fought the system every step of the way. After almost 43 years as a convict, and despite his reputation as one of the most troublesome in the colony, Dougherty got his ticket of leave in 1876.
Other convicts might have described Dougherty as: croppy, galloot, swoddy, scurf’d, boned, done, grab’d, nibb’d, pulled up, bolter, rump’d, pebble, tobyman, scamp, ticketer. See our glossary of Flash language (convict slang words) to find out what these words mean.
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