Castle Hill Rebellion Watercolour Sketch
Convict uprising at Castle Hill, 1804 by unknown artist. Series Rex Nan Kivell Collection.
National Library of Australia, nla.obj-135226428 NK10162.
About the painting
This watercolour sketch is by an unknown artist and shows the battle that took place in the penal colony of New South Wales in March 1804. Known as the Castle Hill Rebellion, the convict uprising was a landmark event in the early history of the colony.
The inscription underneath reads: ‘Major Johnston with Quartermaster Laycock and twenty five privates of ye New South Wales Corps defeats two hundred and sixty six armed rebels. 5th March 1804.’ There are other inscriptions on the image.
The National Library of Australia is the custodian of this watercolour sketch, which is thought to be Australia’s earliest surviving cartoon.
Guided practice
Q. What is going on in the painting’s story?
Teacher’s Guide:A battle on a hill: Castle Hill Rebellion, aka the Battle of Vinegar Hill. There was an earlier Battle of Vinegar Hill during the 1798 rebellion in Ireland. Many of those fighting in the Australian battle had been sent from Ireland as political prisoners. So it became known as the second Battle of Vinegar Hill.
Q. Who is in the painting?
Teacher’s Guide:
The NSW Corps: Real-life Major George Johnston/aka Johnson, Quartermaster Thomas Laycock and redcoats.
Rebels: Real-life rebel leaders Phillip Cunningham, William Johnston and convict rebels.
Other: Roman Catholic priest: James Dixon was brought in by Major Johnston to convince the rebels to surrender. Loyalist volunteers were townspeople who fought on the side of the redcoats.
Q. What moment of the Castle Hill Rebellion has the artist chosen to show?
Teacher’s Guide: The battle…*
Q. Is there more than one moment of time depicted in the watercolour sketch?
Teacher’s Guide: There is a time sequence of the battle’s events. The key moments are collapsed into one image.
Understanding the time sequence
Let’s imagine the sketch is a clock face and you are telling the time. Move clockwise>>>
Q. What do you see at 2 o’clock?
Teacher’s Guide: Father Dixon calls on the rebels to surrender.
Q. What do you see at 3 o’clock?
Teacher’s Guide: Rebels are falling.
Q. What do you see about 4 o’clock?
Teacher’s Guide: Some rebels are running away.*
Q. What do you see between 5 o’clock and 7 o’clock?
Teacher’s Guide: The rebel leaders are with the Major, Quartermaster and a trooper. They are exchanging words and brandishing weapons.*
Q. What do you see at 8 o’clock?
Teacher’s Guide: The redcoats are firing* at the rebels on the hillside.
Q. What do you see at 10 o’clock?
Teacher’s Guide: Gallows, two bodies.
Multiple events
Look again at the asterisked* events above to see how the sketch is showing multiple events condensed into one time frame.
Teacher’s Guide: *Phillip Cunningham, in the white suit with black hat, is shown twice. He is shouting the revolutionary catch cry, ‘Death or Liberty!’ Major Johnston replies ‘You scoundrel, I’ll liberate you.’ Then he stands injured in the left foreground, after Quartermaster Laycock attacks him with his sword.
*The redcoats are firing on the rebels. Then some rebels are hit, while others flee into the scrub.
- Let’s read
Read [Castle Hill Rebellion pp 175 –185. Begin from the start of the diary entry ‘The last Halfway Pond’…‘For the life of me, I could not recall the rest.’]
After reading
Q. Which event shown in the watercolour sketch is not described by Chrissie in ‘The last Halfway Pond’ diary entry?
Teacher’s Guide: The gallows, as this comes later.
Let’s compare
In this section let’s compare and contrast battle depictions. Same? Different?
Read [Castle Hill Rebellion pp187 –189. Begin from section: ‘He cleared his throat. Right then, come see!’ End: ‘They did not even give him a trial.’]
Q. What event does the author include here that the sketch doesn’t show?
Teacher’s Guide: Martial law proclamation to everyone in the colony of New South Wales.
Think, pair, share
Q. What is the artist’s viewpoint in the watercolour sketch?
Q. What is Joe’s viewpoint?
Q. Which ‘side’ do they seem to support – the NSW Corps (British army, redcoats) or the convict rebels?
Teacher’s Guide: The viewpoint of the artist presents the NSW Corps (British army, redcoats) as efficient, strong and overwhelming, while the rebels are poorly armed, confused and afraid.
Although the origins of this sketch are unknown, one explanation is that it was commissioned by a British officer in the colony, or someone who was present at the battle.
The narrator in Castle Hill Rebellion is the diary writer Joe Daley. The story is told from his point of view. Joe is a convict herd boy, observing the battle. He is involved in the rebellion and his sympathies appear to lie with the rebels, although his is conflicted. At the battle he sees the Major as betraying the rules of a parley. He sees the rebel leaders as brave, not cowardly. He does agree that the redcoat army’s training and gun power is superior and that the convict rebels lack tactical training.
Write, draw or make
Write and/or draw your version of the battle at Vinegar Hill in 1804, or present your battle as a diorama.