Learn about rebels who were sent away

The King Township Historical Society will present an extra program tonight (Wednesday) dealing with how rebels (including those who took part in the 1837 rebellion) fared after being deported.

The speaker will be Dr. John Carter, who has recently returned from a research trip to Tasmania, which served as a penal colony for Great Britain in the 1820s to '40s.

Canadians (including residents of Lloydtown and area) who had taken up arms against the Crown in the Rebellion of 1837 and Americans who aided them in 1838 were defeated, many captured and imprisoned. The British punished them in various ways, with some being "transported" abroad.

Carter will tell the story of some of these "penal exiles" through the words of one miserable captive aboard the vessel HMS Buffalo, sailing across the oceans to the colony off Australia's south coast, known then as Van Diemen's Land. He will be describing how the prisoners between 1840 and 1845 were put to hard labour, moving through the wilderness of the big island from one probation station to another, and eventually for a few, to pardons and return to North America.

Carter is a museum advisor in the Ontario Ministry of Culture and has addressed the society on a number of previous occasions. He has also written extensively on aspects of the 1837-38 rebellions, including the distinctive prison boxes carved from scrap wood by the lonely prisoners idling in jail.

The talk will be at the King Township Museum, at 2920 King Rd. in king City, starting at 7:30 p.m. Call (905) 841- 5048 for more information.