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ShareAnthony Dwyer & Margaret Codehy (Cuddy)
Anthony Dwyer was an early settler at Patersons Plains. He was tried in Ireland in 1799 and transported for life, arriving in New South Wales on the Atlas in 1802.[1]
In 1810 Dwyer was sent to the penal settlement at Newcastle as a lime burner, possibly because of a colonial offence.[2] He received a conditional pardon in January 1815[3] and by April of that year was overseer of lime burners at Newcastle.
Some time between 1818 and 1821 he received permission to settle at Patersons Plains and took up a block on the eastern bank of the Paterson River, immediately north of Thomas Addison's block (see map).[4]. Remarkably, he received the rare reward of an absolute pardon in November 1821 (the last few weeks of Lachlan Macquarie's governorship).[5]
In 1822 Dwyer married Margaret Codehy (Cuddy)[6] who had arrived in New South Wales on the ship Catherine in 1814 with a seven year sentence for her conviction in Kilkenny City the previous year. At the time of arrival her occupaton was listed as 'servant' and her age 21 years.[7] Margaret was banished to Newcastle on two separate occasions, the first in July 1815 for an unknown offence and the second in 1820 following a sentence of seven years secondary transportation for stealing a watch in Sydney.[8]
Above right: Newspaper report of Margaret Cuddy's second sentence to Newcastle.
By 1822 on his farm at Patersons Plains Dwyer had cleared 22 acres, planted 20 acres of wheat and was running 14 cattle and 2 pigs, but he was not in residence at the time the muster was taken.[9] Dangar's survey in 1823 indicated Dwyer's farm consisted of 26 acres of which 19 acres had been cleared and on which stood a wattle and plaster hut, a barn, shed, pig sty and yard, with a total value of £23.[10]
The 1828 census indicates Anthony and Margaret were living on their Paterson land that they had named 'Macquarie Farm' which now comprised 60 acres, all of which had been cleared and 20 acres were under cultivation. Their ages in 1828 were recorded as 44 and 45 respectively.[11]
Like many of the other early settlers at Patersons Plains who occupied their land at the governor's pleasure, Dwyer became ensnared in the re-allocation of his land to the Church and School Corporation. Dwyer refused to move and was later promised title to his land, but he died in 1840 before this occurred.[12] His land passed firstly to William Manning and then by sale to William Munnings Arnold who began to build Stradbroke House on Dwyer's old farm in the 1850s.
Notes and references
1. Convict shipping indents, 4/4004 [fiche 630] p100, SRNSW.
2. see the index to the Colonial Secretary papers under 'External Links' below.
3. Conditional Pardon 31 January 1815, 4/4430 [reel 774], p81, SRNSW.
4. Hunter, Cynthia. The Settlers of Paterson's Plains. Paterson: Paterson Historical Society 
, 1997.
5. Absolute Pardon 28 November 1821, 4/4486 [reel 800], p63, SRNSW.
6. Index to the NSW Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages, V18222985 3B/1822 & V182225 9/1822.
7. Convict shipping indents, 4/4004 [fiche 634] p522, SRNSW.
8. SG 25 November 1820 p3 (on-line ).
9. Baxter, Carol (ed.). General Muster and Land and Stock Muster of New South Wales 1822. Australian Biographical and Genealogical Record, 1988.
10. as cited in The Settlers of Paterson's Plains, see 4 above, p19.
11. They are recorded under the surname 'Dwire': Sainty MR and KA Johnston (eds). Census of New South Wales 1828. Library of Australian History, 2008 (revised edition on CD).
12. Index to the NSW Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages, V184075 122A/1840.
External links
Index to the NSW Colonial Secretary's papers. There are several papers listed for Anthony Dwyer (per Atlas 1802) and for Margaret Codehy/Cuddy (per Catherine 1814) .
See also
An overview of settlement at Patersons Plains up to the end of 1821.
Further research needed
Anthony Dwyer's Col Sec papers (see index above) need to be consulted to fill in the gaps re why he came to Newcastle and when he took up his block at Patersons Plains.
Abbreviations sometimes used on this site: CS = NSW Colonial Secretary; HRA = Historical Records of Australia; LB = Letters to Benches of Magistrates, Justices of the Peace and Superintendents of Police; ML = Mitchell Library (State Library of NSW); NLA = National Library of Australia; NSWGG = NSW Government Gazette; PRO = Public Record Office, London; PSC = Principal Superintendent of Convicts; SG = Sydney Gazette; SH = Sydney Herald; SRNSW = State Records Authority of NSW;
