(1791-1830)
Was Patrick Logan a sadistic monster or a just and honourable man? He has been described in both ways, but also as an effective administrator and fearless explorer. An army officer from the Scottish borders, he was responsible for running the penal colony at Moreton Bay, in what is now the Australian city of Brisbane. He rebuilt the prison settlement, strengthened its administration, expanded its agricultural production, and instilled order. But he met his death in a gruesome attack in the Outback.
Penal colony
The son of a prosperous farmer in Berwickshire, Logan served with his regiment, the 57th Foot, in the Peninsular War against the French, in Quebec and in Ireland, where he married Letitia O’Beirne. He was then ordered to go to Australia, travelling there on a convict ship with his wife and baby son. After nearly a year in Sydney, they set sail for the remote outpost of Moreton Bay, where Captain Logan was to take charge of the penal colony.
Founded a couple of years earlier, the penal settlement consisted of a straggle of crudely built huts and a few tents, without a hospital, granary or even a jail. Logan set about the challenging task of building the settlement using convict labour overseen by soldiers. He also increased the amount of land under cultivation .
Conditions for the convicts were harsh and the punishments meted out to transgressors even harsher, with vicious floggings commonplace. Not surprisingly the convicts bitterly resented this treatment, but it was by no means unusual for the time.
Explorations
Supplies sent up from Sydney were often late or failed to arrive at all. So Logan set off to explore the hinterland, looking for alternative sources of essential supplies. A keen and fearless explorer, he made many trips into the bush, mapping the area and documenting new species of plants, animals and birds. He discovered several rivers and was the first European to climb the local peaks. He was also responsible for finding a southern entrance to Moreton Bay and an important river, eventually named the Logan River after him.
On his last expedition before he was due to leave Moreton Bay, Patrick Logan met his death. Riding alone in a previously unexplored area, he was set upon by a group of Aborigines and killed. His body was carried down to Sydney where he was buried with full military honours. His widow, Letitia, travelled back to Ireland with her two small children and settled in Dublin. Her son, Robert, eventually became a Lieutenant General in his father’s old regiment. Frances Nairne was Patrick’s great granddaughter.
For more information on this story see: Angela Coulter, A Stream of Lives, Matador Press 2021, available from Troubador Bookshop