Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
John Walsh was transported on the Portland, departing 21st Feb 1833 and arriving 26th Jun 1833 with 199 passengers.
The 'Portland' ship was built at Bristol, England in 1822, 385 tons. The 'Portland' transported convicted from Britain to Australia in 1832 & 1833. The 1833 voyage came direct from Cork, Ireland therefore all of the passengers are not yet listed on this web site.
Portland (generic)References
| Primary Source | NSW Gov Records. Irish Convicts. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28652525 |
Claims
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Photos
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Convict Notes
Walsh bludgeoned all 4 of his victims to deat and then after her death hew also interferred with Caroline's corpse Trial papers of the 4 murders committed by Walsh.
Dennis Nightingale's information is unreliable in many areas. Walsh's earlier trials for murder... He used the same defence for both previous murders and was acquitted both times and again at the trial for Caroline's Murder. He had been tried at Hartley Court hose and Caroline's brother Isaac had been a witness and I think also her Brother John also. This would have given him and extra grudge against Caroline and her family. If the victims of these murders had received the justice that they deserved Caroline probably would not have received the sentence that she received at his hands. Caroline would have been 15 just 3 months after she was murdered. Her mother had committed suicide on the 12 October 1835 at her Home at the Twenty Mile Hollow. At the time of her death she had a very young baby and the family were under stress because of the behaviour of a relative of the Collits family who was trying to get the land for which William James had applied. Copies of Applications for Land Grants x . Caroline's Mother was accused of being a notorious drunkard but only evidence for this is hearsay as is the evidence for the behaviour of the Girls. Evidence for the births of the James Children . Affidavit from their father and sent to Magistrate Sir John Jamieson at Penrith, Letters from Mr Therry and others to Sir John. After the death of their mother and imprisonment of their father the children were sent to the orphan schools. Sadly the Orphan School records for the years from 1835 onwards were destroyed in a huge fire about 1888. Why was the fire set and by whom? Who took the children from the orphanages to Hartley Vale and for what reason. Were the Girl's older Brothers told of their marriage before the events and why weren't at least one of them a witness at their sisters' marriages. Many unanswered questions re this family and lots of unproven allegations and much innuendo about these very young Girls. Walsh married Maria when he was 29 and she was just 12. Why?
John Walsh, Probable Baptism 21st October 1822 Parents Ned Walsh and Margaret Conway. Information in the information provided is incorrect. His sister in law Caroline Collits nee James was 14 (Born April 1827 source Affidavit) when she was so brutally murdered by Walsh who had already been charged 2 times previously for murder firstly of a man and secondly of a woman and her little son. He managed to talk his way out of these two trials. He had been charged several times at Hartley Vale Court House for drunkenness. He married Caroline's younger sister who was 12 years old. I have a letter written to Sir John Jamieson, Magistrate at Penrith in October 1835 re Caroline when she was 8 by Mr Therry and who described her as a fine child not above 9 years of age. She was 9 the following April. Caroline had taken care of her older brothers, a younger sister and brother and a young baby just weeks old after the death of their mother . I believe that Caroline left her husband William Collits to again care for her young sister as she had done all those years ago. There remain many questions over the life of this young girl after the death of her mother and the gaoling of their father. She is to be pitied rather than blamed. If she had been the girl she is purported to be by the Collits family and the newspapers of the day she would not have warned him that Walsh had a rock and was going to kill him. After she did this Collits ran away and left his poor little 14 year old wife to the mercies of the drunken and enraged Walsh.
He was tried 2 times for murder and managed to talk his way out of conviction on each occasion. Newspaper report 1836 of the trial of the murder of John Cruik. 1839 tried for the murder of a woman and her son. Again Acquitted. Appeared several times before the Bench at Hartley usually for Drunkenness. Hartley Court House Bench Books He then married the 12 year old Maria James. Shortly after he murdered her 14 year old sister who was married to his 'friend' William Collits at The Camel's Hump on the pass to Hartley at Valley. He was found guilty this time and was hanged at Bathurst Gaol on 2nd May 1842. Trial papers for Caroline's Murder.
PLEASE NOTE! - The trail previously listed by me before the Chief Justice Sir James Dowling, in the year 1830 for the murder of a person named Crate, is incorrect and applies to another John Walsh (of which there are many).
Prior to the Mount Victoria Murder of Caroline Collits (Nee James)and his conviction and hanging. John Walsh had been tried twice previously for murder. He was tried before the Chief Justice Sir James Dowling, in the year 1830, for the murder of a person named Crate, but was acquitted. In 1839, he was again tried before Mr. Justice Stephen, for having murdered a woman and her little son. On account of the character of the principal witness against him, he was was for a second time acquitted. In the latter case, it was established by the evidence, that the residence of the murdered woman had been robbed of some tobacco and a keg of spirits, and that she and her son had been beaten to death with a bludgeon, which was found near their murdered bodies.
John Walsh was hanged on Tuesday, 3rd May, 1842 at Bathurst aged 36. On the night of 4th January 1842, Caroline, William and Walsh met at Joseph Jagger's Inn at Hartley, Mount Victoria to have a drink. Soon after leaving the Public House Walsh knocked William Collits to the ground, without the slightest provocation. Caroline came to his assistance by grabbing Walsh's arms and telling William to "run, run, he has got a stone and will murder you", which allowed William to escape. These were the last words Caroline was heard to utter. Matthew Mall, a mail driver from Penrith to Hartley, was delivering mail as usual. At about 6 a.m. midway between the top of Mt. Victoria and Soldier's Pinch, about three miles from Jagger's, he saw some clothes lying on the road. On further investigation he discovered a body nearby. It was established that this was Caroline, William's wife. She had been assaulted and her skull crushed by a rock. John Walsh was later taken into custody. At his trial Walsh maintained his innocence and accused young Jagger and three others of following him, hitting him with a pistol and taking Caroline away from him. A report by John Jones, Sergeant of H.M. 80th Regiment in court, stated that John Walsh had come to his hut at 11 p.m. on the night of 5th January stating he had been attacked by young Jagger and four others, but Jones didn't believe him and sent him to get assistance elsewhere. In the Vale of Hartley: In the Blue Mountains, an emancipist sawyer who previously murdered three people, violently beats to death his lover, Caroline Collitts, the seventeen-year-old sister of Maria, his fifteen-year-old wife. A younger sister of Caroline Collit, married John Walsh, the convict at present under sentence of death in Bathurst gaol, and, it appears, continued to live with him up till the time of her sister’s murder; but she, as well as her sister Caroline, since the trial, have been ascertained to have borne very loose characters, which is fully established by the fact, that both before and after Walsh had married the younger sister, Caroline cohabited with him and had in fact been for a considerable time living with him, under the same roof with her sister, and in a state of separation from her own husband (Collit). Sydney Morning Herald, April 27, 1842, The Mount Victoria Murder. About twelve months after her marriage, her mother who was a notorious drunkard hanged herself in her own house… Sydney Morning Herald, April 27, 1842, The Mount Victoria Murder.
Born - Kilkenny Ireland. Single.