Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Eugene Sweeny was transported on the Castle Forbes, departing 28th Sep 1823 and arriving 19th Jan 1824 with 142 passengers.
The Castle Forbes was a 439-ton merchant ship built by Robert Gibbon & Sons at Aberdeen, Scotland in 1818. She made two voyages transporting convicts from Ireland to Australia. Castle Forbes arrived at Port Jackson, New South Wales on 27 January 1820. After their arrival in Sydney, 136 men were sent on to Van Diemen's Land Colony (now named Tasmania), arriving in Hobart 1 March 1820. 4 men remained in New South Wales and 4 deaths recorded on this voyage. Alexander Pearce (the infamous bushranger) was one of these men. (Incomplete register of persons transported - records are currently being inputted)
Castle Forbes (generic)References
| Primary Source | Irish Convict Database, by Peter Mayberry. |
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Convict Notes
Died: 29 Jan 1868, Branxton, NSW. Buried: St Brigid's Catholic Cemetery, Branxton, NSW. The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 4 February, 1868, p. 2. DEATH FROM ASTHMA. – On Saturday last an inquest was held by the Coroner, J. Thomson, Esq., on the body of a man named Eugene Sweeney, aged sixty-five years. It appeared that the deceased resided in a small slab hut, quite alone, situated close to the road leading from Branxton to Elderslie and he gained his living by the sale of colonial wines. He had been known to have had a bad cough, and to have been asthmatical for the last five years. On Wednesday last some carriers were at his place having some colonial wines, and he does not appear to have been seen alive since that day. About noon on Friday a man named Shanaghan found the hut shut up and an offensive smell proceeding from it. The police, being informed of the circumstance, entered the hut and found the body of the deceased lying on a stretcher, and in a state of decomposition. A verdict was returned of “Natural death from Asthma.”
Colonial Secretary Index. SWEENEY, Eugene. 1824 Jun 9 On list of convicts employed by William Howe of Minto (Fiche 3093; 4/1837B No.475 p.824) -------------------------------------------------- 1828 Census Index. Edgar Sweeney, Castle Forbes 2, 3 year sentence, Moreton Bay. -------------------------------------------------- Eugene was one of many convicts arriving at Moreton Bay 22 April 1828 per Barque Lucy Ann. Moreton Bay Convict Register. Eugene Sweeney, Cas. Forbes 2, Tried at Limerick Co., Summer Ass, 1822, appearing in arms & house breaking, 7 years, Reaper. Colonial Sentence: Tried Gen sessions, Argyle, 18 Jan 1828, Harbouring Bushrangers, 3 years. Returned to Sydney, 16 Jan 1831. Description: Eugene Sweeney, age 28, native of Limerick, 5 ft 8 ¼. Fresh fd. Comp. Red/brown hair, Hazle eyes. Catholic. -------------------------------------------------- Convict Index. Eugene Sweeney, Castle Forbes, 1824, Ticket of Leave, 39/468. District, Maitland; Tried, Limerick Ass. Eugene Sweeney, Castle Forbes, 1824, Certificate of Freedom, 8 Jul 1844, 44/1037.
Irish Convict Database, by Peter Mayberry. Eugene Sweeny, alias Sweeney, age on arrival, 24, Castle Forbes (2) 1824. Tried Limerick Co., 1822, 7 years, DOB 1800. Native place, Limerick Co. Reaper.