On 28th September 1839, the Ship Buffalo left Quebec, Canada, taking 144 prisoners to Van Diemen’s Land and New South Wales, following the Patriot War in Canada in 1837-38. Some of the prisoners were French Canadians patriots and others were American patriots, captured after the Battle of the Windmill. The Ship went first to Van Diemens Land, arriving at Hobart on 11th February 1840, where most of the American prisoners were landed, and then went on to Sydney, arriving on 26th February 1840, where the 58 French speaking prisoners were landed. They were separated mainly because there was hostility between the Americans from Lower Canada and the Canadians from Upper Canada. The prisoners were in the main, literate, idealistic and honest men.
