www.monumentaustralia.org.au

Canadian Exiles Memorial Print Page Print this page

25-January-2014
25-January-2014

Photographs supplied by John Huth / Arthur Garland

The monument commemorates 92 exiles transported from Canada to Van Dieman's Land. The vast majority of the exiles from Canada were American patriots. It  was unveiled by the Canadian High Commissioner in 1995.

In 1837 in an ill-starred attempt to spread the message of Independence, a Patriot army launched an invasion of Canada, hoping to provoke a general uprising. It failed to light the fires of rebellion and the British captured 92 mostly American citizens, members of the American Patriot Army fighting with Canadian republicans for independence from Britain.

Military courts smartly and highly illegally banished them in 1839 to Britain's remote and wild new island colony of Van Diemen's Land, now the State of Tasmania. The American freedom fighters were mostly civilian recruits and family men farmers, carpenters, clerks, ploughmen, merchants.

Unlike the general convict population and the Irish political exiles with whom much of the Tasmanian population was in sympathy, the Canadians were reviled and treated with disgust by everyone. Yankee republicanism was viewed as the ultimate disloyalty. Most of the Canadians weren`t criminals and were from reasonably well -to-do families, unused to hard labour and poor living conditions.

They were virtual slaves at penal posts on the island for up to 10 years, and 14 Patriots died as convicts. Some escaped on American whalers. When finally pardoned, the Americans were let loose to find their own way home. A few never did. They married free settler and convict women and remained in Australia. The Patriot convicts sent to Tasmania were the first Americans imprisoned overseas and the first political prisoners.

Location

Address:Salamanca Place, Princes Park , Battery Point, 7004
State:TAS
Area:Foreign
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -42.887626
Long: 147.337091
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
View Google Map

Details

Monument Type:Monument
Monument Theme:Government
Sub-Theme:Dissent

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:1995
Front Inscription

This monument honours the memory of 92 exiles transported from Canada to Van Diemen`s Land in 1840.

Their struggle was a significant factor in the evolution of responsible government for Canada and Australia.

Unveiled by Canadian High Commissioner Brian Schumacher on the 12th December 1995 during the Centenary year of official Canada - Australia trade relations.

[ inscription in Canadian French]

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au