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PERHAPS the luckiest break Barney Mahony ever got was being put on a convict ship and sent to Australia.
The diminutive Barney [convict records show he stood just 4’ 7” tall] was just 14 when he was convicted of pick pocketing in an Irish court and sentenced to transportation to the colony.
He was the youngest of 18 convicts bundled aboard the James Pattison for the three-and-a-half month voyage to NSW and arrived in Sydney on January 20, 1830.
From there he was sent to the convict barracks on William Lawson’s property, Macquarie, between Bathurst and O’Connell where he completed his sentence.
Once emancipated, Barney continued working for the Lawson family before embarking on his own business pursuits including work as a tinsmith, bootmaker and hotel keeper at the quaintly named Good Woman Inn.
When he died in 1895, the father of nine children to his free settler wife Catherine McCarthy, an obituary in the local paper called him “one of Bathurst’s best citizens”.
Barney’s descendants carved out impressive careers in the law and medicine, including great grandson Frank Mahony who was the head of ASIO in the 1970s.
The government has to be careful about injecting funds into a private facility.
- Bathurst MP Paul Toole
Barney’s story is just one of the convict tales Paul Hennessy would like to share in his proposal for a convict museum.
It’s a bold goal but not a cheap one and Mr Hennessy is calling on government support to make it happen.
Mr Hennessy also wants to establish an “honour roll” of convicts from the barracks, a list that would include prominent Bathurst names including Tobin, Hogan, Cosgrove, Jennings, Rush, Murphy and even Hennessy.
Bathurst MP Paul Toole said he had spoken to Mr Hennessy about his vision for the barracks and broadly supported the proposal, but said there was a need for caution before committing public money.
“There are smaller heritage grants available but this is a pretty big project,” Mr Toole said.
“Before the government considers getting involved in that sort of project it really has to be state heritage listed so it can never really be touched and the government has to be careful about injecting funds into a private facility.”
Mr Toole said he would be happy to meet with Mr Hennessy again to discuss opportunities for government support.
