by Niahm
In April 1843, a relatively small, black, wooden box accompanied John Sheahan, a former inmate of Kilmainham Prison, on board "The North Briton" as the ship finally arrived in Hobart, Van Diemen's Land. Sheahan had been convicted in the Limerick Assizes the previous July of an agrarian crime, and was sentenced to be transported. It is thought that his intentions were to keep the price of potatoes at some kind of affordable level, even if his methods were lacking. He had been indicted for assaulting the dwellings of Patrick Burns and Patrick Carroll and administering unlawful oaths. He was also sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for appearing in arms.
In October 1845 he received a ticket-of-leave, allowing him to labour on his own behalf while still being classed as a convict, and in August 1848 he was granted a conditional pardon, classifying him as technically free but unable to leave the colony until his sentence expired. John Sheahan was certified free in April 1854, by which time he had married a servant girl, Mary Ann Hughes, originally from Co Down. After receiving his Certificate of Freedom, Sheahan built a cottage for his family in the central Victorian goldfield at
Campbell's Creek. Their firstborn child died at a young age, but John and Mary Ann raised nine other children. Sheahan is very highly regarded by his descendants in present day Australia, having worked extremely hard and secured a successful life for himself and his family. Throughout his lifetime, John Sheahan kept safe the precious black box which had carried his few possessions to his new world.
John Sheahan's great granddaughter, Marie Sheahan, corresponded some years ago with me in the Kilmainham Jail Archives, sending me documents and early photographs of John and his family outside their cottage. One photograph intrigued me - depicting an old black wooden box, in bright sunlight, on a modern garden path. Marie described how John had been permitted to take with him from Ireland whatever fitted in that box. In all my years working in the Kilmainham Archives, this was the one and only time I asked a family would they consider donating an item to Kilmainham. The Sheehan family in Australia deliberated upon this request in great depth, and in Ocotber 2000 the black box completed its return journey, 157 years later, to Kilmainhm Prison, where it was proudly placed on display.
Having left Kilmainham, I still talk with great enthusiasm about this fascinating object. Recently visiting the "History Club" of Coláiste Pobail Setanta in Dublin, I spoke with the first and second year students about the jail and John Sheahan's black box. These young, modern students, from many different countries, were greatly interested in John, and I gave them a small assignment: to write about what they might bring with them in their box, should they ever have been sentenced to transportation themselves. They were relieved to hear that they would be permitted to pack contemporary possessions, and only had to consider the size of the box! After all, we each have to live in our own age, even whilst reflecting upon the times of others...
Then a subtle, rather interesting modification settled on the assignment. Quite unconsciously, the children, together with their two teachers, Ms Garrihy and Ms O'Grady, altered the task to their being deported, and having to fit their possessions into a small schoolbag. These "History Club" kids and their teachers had taken John's 1843 box, and inspired by his story, were able to make it even more relevant to the times in which they themselves live.
Their choices were funny and endearing and very clever. Some of them mentioned vacuum packs, which could contain at least triple the amount of clothes, and many of them would bring sweets! Realising the need for hope and spiritual guidance, some would bring their bibles and others books. The need to keep occupied was reflected by one student
wishing to bring a pen and notebooks to perfect her drawing skills, and another who would bring a deflated basketball and pump. Living to the full in 2011, virtually no student would go anywhere without their mobile phone. They would also bring treasured photos of their families, something which would not only have been a comfort to John Sheahan, but would have been of enormous assistance to his great granddaughter in her lengthy, still incomplete search for information relating to him.
Ultimately, the winning paper was one of three from students who would bring a diary and pen. I've worked too long amongst old papers and journals not to recognise the immense value represented by this choice. As the young student stated: "... to write what happened, to remember the important days." These 12 to 14 year-old students from Coláiste Pobail Setanta are a credit to their school and to Ireland.
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