My Dublin-born, Irish 5x great-grandfather Patrick Humphreys was transported to New South Wales after being convicted of possessing 200 weight of stolen sheet lead. However, there’s a story passed on to some of his descendants that there was more to the situation than what’s on record.

Family lore says soldiers from a nearby English garrison were throwing their weight around, and the garrison commander demanded the Humphreys family hand over their cow so he could have fresh milk.

Patrick, who was about 24 years old, wasn’t going to let that happen. He demanded the cow be returned, but was refused. He decided if his family couldn’t have their cow, no one else would, and so he shot the cow.

Patrick was seen by the garrison as a troublemaker, an Irish rebel. The family story is that the charge of stealing lead was made up in an effort to get him out of the way.

Whether or not it was true, in Dublin in April 1791 Patrick was tried and found guilty. He was given a sentence of transportation for seven years, and in 1793 he boarded the Boddingtons headed for New South Wales.

One of Patrick’s assignments was at the Toongabbie prison farm, near Parramatta, which was set up to provide food for the colony. Apparently he also helped with planning a fishing village at South Head.

In March 1801, after having completed his sentence, Patrick joined the NSW Corps. He served in the 102nd Regiment for almost ten years, then the Royal Veteran Company for another thirteen. One of his fellow soldiers in the 102nd was Terence McMahon, also an Irishman, who died about six months later.

Patrick married Terence McMahon’s widow Catherine in February 1802. Family lore suggests that Patrick, Catherine, and Terence knew each other in Ireland, although there’s no evidence of this.

Patrick and Catherine had at least six children together, including my 4x great-grandfather Thomas Patrick Humphreys. The family also included Catherine’s three children with her first husband.

The Humphreys family spent many years living at Watson’s Bay, originally known as Camp Cove, on four acres of land granted to Patrick.

In 1823, when he retired from the Corps, Patrick received another land grant which he used for farming. The 100 acres of land at Brisbane Water, at the place today known as Kincumber, was called Mount Humphreys, and sold to his son Thomas in 1841.

Patrick was buried at Kincumber when he died in 1846.

Selected references

The Calendars of the Rebellion Papers, Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, https://www.virtualtreasury.ie/curated-collections/1798-rebellion-papers, accessed 6 September 2026.

Industry & Perseverance: A History of David Brown (1750-1836) and Family, John Griffiths, 2020, https://www.davidbrown1801nsw.info/, accessed 13 September 2026.

Service record of Patrick Humphries, Captain Brabyn’s Company of the NSW Royal Veterans, attestation 14 March 1801, British Army Service Records 1760-1913, The National Archives, England, WO97, 1141/1.

Barbara Hall, Of Infamous Character: The Convicts of the Boddingtons, Ireland to Botany Bay, 1793, Sydney, 2011.

Robin Derricourt, South Head Sydney & The Origins of Watsons Bay, Watsons Bay Association, Sydney, 2011.

Early Watsons Bay, Watsons Bay Association, https://watsonsbayassociation.org/history-places/46/Early-Watsons-Bay/, accessed 20 September 2026.

‘The Story of Kincumber’, The Gosford Times, 4 September 1953, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article167385779, accessed 13 September 2026.

‘Grants of Land’, New South Wales Gazette, 25 Mar 1835, issue no. 160, p. 156, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230655008, accessed 20 September 2026.

State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood, NSW, Australia; Archive Reel: 1599; Series: 12992; Description: Registers of Memorials for Land 1825-1842; Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Land Grants, 1788-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

“This View of The City of Dublin, The Bay, Mountains & The Royal Canal and Foster Aqueduct, is most humbly Dedicated to The Rt Honble John Foster M.R.I.A. by the Author James George Oben”, print, aquatint and etching with hand-colouring, James George Oben, 1813, platemark 35.2 x 46.5 cm, on sheet 44 x 59.7 cm, British Library from The Topographical Collection of George III, image no known copyright.

A Perspective of the City of Dublin from Phoenix Park, print, anonymous, c1780s, height 190 mm x width 287 mm, Rijksmuseum RP-P-2018-2021, image PDM 1.0.

View of The Heads, from Lycett, Joseph, and George Graham. Views in Australia, or, New South Wales & Van Diemen’s Land Delineated : In Fifty Views with Descriptive Letter Press … / by J. Lycett. J. Souter, 1824., Dixson Library, State Library of NSW, image out of copyright.

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161152851/patrick-humphreys: accessed 20 Sep 2026), memorial page for Patrick Humphreys (1762–26 Aug 1846), Find a Grave Memorial ID 161152851, citing Kincumber South Cemetery, Kincumber South, Central Coast Council, New South Wales, Australia; Maintained by handymaam (contributor 49319993).