Ephraim Taylor

6

Ian Menkins on 3rd January 2023

Ephraim Taylor became a Private in the Clarence River Border Police in 1843, serving under Corporal James Graham, who was also a transported convict. The pair were sent by Commissioner Fry on 1st January, 1843 in pursuit of two men accused of murder in “New England”, who were considered to be at large in the region of the Clarence. In the reports of the Border Police, Private Taylor was considered “Satisfactory” at the time. It took them close to two months to track down and capture one of the two bushrangers in the outer parts of the district. They returned to "Red Rock" on 20th February, 1843. While in the process of issuing subpoenas on 24th March, 1843, Private Ephraim Taylor absconded from the Clarence River Border Police. Another trooper was dispatched to find him and soon after found the disheveled man, wandering alone in the bush near Mt. Hindmarsh* on the “Darling Downs” (sic.) having lost possession of his firearms and horse, and, evidently, his mind. He was declared unfit for duty and discharged to Hyde Park Barracks for Examination. Private Taylor was sentenced to 12 months on Cockatoo Island on 17th April, 1843 after a brief hearing at Hyde Park Barracks on the 13th (or 15th?) of April. His offense appears on his permanent record, lightly and as if hastily scribbled, as “unknown”. He was discharged to Hyde Park Barracks on 15th April, 1844. * The Mt Hindmarsh referred to in Commissioner Fry’s report was probably the large mountain block that today forms the bulk of Timbarra National Park. The pastoralist Walter Hindmarsh had settled there, in the region above Rocky Creek near the Clarence River, in 1842 and it is reasonable to presume that the nearby mountain took his name. It is possible that the mountain was being referred to as a general direction by Commissioner Fry. It is also possible that Private Taylor had made it as far as the Granite Belt or to the Maryland/Killarney area, considering that Fry claims his deserter was found on the “Darling Downs”. However the boundaries of the districts were somewhat ambiguous at the time, due mainly to the terrain, and the district of Darling Downs had not yet been officially gazetted. Sources: 1) Extract from the Reports of the Clarence River Border Police for 1843. [NRS-906-1-[4/1139]-4/1139.1 | Commissioners of Crown Lands. Reports and returns of Border Police - Portland Bay, New England and Clarence River districts, NSW State Archives; 2) Ancestry.com, Convict Indents, 1788-1842 for Ephraim Taylor, Non-Annotated Printed Indentures, 1840-1842, State Records Authority of NSW; 3) Ancestry.com, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930 for Ephraim Taylor, Entrance and Description Book, Darlinghurst, 1831-1849, State Records Authority of NSW, p. 175 of 656; and 4) Convict Records, 1810-1891 for Ephraim Taylor, Cockatoo Island Penal Establishment, Cockatoo Island: Index to Convicts, 1833-1834, p. 73 of 89; (NSW State Archives, 4/4540; microfilm copy SR Reel 605).