Caribbean Convicts weaves together the story of the Caribbean men who arrived in Sydney onboard the convict ship the Moffatt on August 30, 1836. Most had been enslaved, including William Buchanan, a Jamaican man transported for participating in the Christmas Day slave uprising in Jamaica in 1831-32.

Join historical novelist Sienna Brown as she explores the diverse fates of Buchanan and the other men who arrived that day. As they fanned out across the country, some became bushrangers, others stalwarts of the community, but they all worked hard to make a new home for themselves. 

Voices

Cassandra Pybus is a FAHA Fellow and specialises in historical narratives about people who have been marginalised, forgotten or written out of history. An award-winning author she has published 13 books including Black Founders: The Unknown Story of Australia’s First Black Settlers and the bestselling biography, Truganini. She has held research professorships at the University of Sydney, Georgetown University in Washington DC, the University of Texas and King’s College London. 

Elizabeth Wiedemann is a local historian in Inverell, NSW.

Marg Young is a relative through marriage of Dick Holt, Richard Holt’s Son who is featured in the program.

Felix Cross is a composer, director and producer whose work has been performed nationally and internationally. From 1996 to 2015, he was the Artistic Director of Nitro/Black Theatre Co-op in England, developing and producing new musical-theatre from a black British perspective. He also worked as a composer for a number of major theatre companies in England. In 2012, he was awarded an MBE for services to Musical Theatre. In 2013 he moved with his family to Australia, working as a freelance director and composer. In 2025, he’s living back in London, while studying for a PhD at Western Sydney University.

Michael St George is one of the most unique performance artists to have emerged from Jamaica. Of Maroon heritage, he’s a poet/singer/songwriter who has worked with national and international artists and dedicates his work to equity, justice and universal love. St George uses poetry and music to dismantle borders, celebrate the power of diversity and self-elevation. The Ontario Federation of Labour presented St. George with the Art and Culture Award for outstanding contribution to his field.

Archival documents read by Scott Cumming and Christian Price

Credits

This series was produced on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and Burramatagal people of the Dharug nation.

Narrator, writer, and producer: Sienna Brown

Sound recordist, writer, and producer: Ben Etherington

Supervising producer: Jane Curtis, UTS Impact Studios

Executive producer: Sarah Gilbert, UTS Impact Studios

Sound designer and engineer: John Jacobs

An earlier version of this episode was made for the ABC Radio National's History Listen programme, with Michelle Rayner as Executive Producer.

Support

The research for this series was funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project Creole Voices in the Caribbean and Australia: Poetics and Decolonisation (DP220101256).

We are also grateful to the Writing and Society Research Centre and School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University for their generous support in the production of this series.