The 58 Patriots who escaped hanging in 1840 sparked a wave of freedom to Australia and New Zealand, where they were deported. Almost two centuries later, two crosses made from the wood of their ship return to the banks of the St. Lawrence.
“It’s thanks to the French and American patriots that a wind of democracy is blowing in Australia and New Zealand,” says Samuel Pineault, co-producer of the ongoing documentary La baie des exilés, in an interview with and review of the Journal Journal “extraordinary and little-known” event.
The patriots, convicted of their role in the uprisings of 1837 and 1838, were sent to the coast of Oceania on the three-master HMS Buffalo and were fortunate to escape execution on the scaffold at the Pied du Courant.
Photo courtesy of Samuel Pineault
Aerial view of the wreck of HMS Buffalo in New Zealand.
It was here that twelve of their companions, including their leader, Chevalier De Lorimier, were hanged on February 15, 1839.
Many descendants
Most of the exiles returned to Lower Canada, where they were pardoned by the Queen of England a few years later; Some took up to four years to return to their homeland. Others have settled in Oceania and raised families in their host countries.
“We followed the story of these exiles who had multiple children. These in turn produced many offspring. We still find French Canadian surnames in Australian and New Zealand families,” continued Mr. Pineault.
It is to one of these descendants, Deke Richard, that we owe the initiative of La baie des exilés, a film project that we are in the process of finalizing funding.
Photo courtesy of Sam Pineault
Deke Richard, Canadian-Australian director.
The film is scheduled to premiere in 2024.
Two trailing edges
To pay homage to the patriots, volunteers took pieces of wood from the ship that ran aground in 1840 and fashioned three wooden crosses from them. They were the subject of a ceremony in New Zealand last month.
Photo courtesy of Samuel Pineault
Crosses made from the wreckage of the Patriots’ ship.
“Two of these crosses are returning to Quebec and will be the subject of a celebration on May 22nd in Saint-Polycarpe, where one of the exiles, François-Xavier Prieur, lived,” explains Samuel Pineault.
He hopes these pieces will one day become part of a national museum’s collection.
François-Xavier Prieur: deportation instead of hanging!
Photo courtesy of the City of Montreal Archives
Francois Xavier Prior in 1891.
The patriot François-Xavier Prieur (1814-1891) was sentenced to death for leading an uprising of 150 to 200 men against British rule on November 3, 1838. However, due to his political connections, his sentence was commuted to deportation. He was exiled to Australia, where he set foot in 1840.
After building roads there, he became a gardener, farm boy and candle maker. On September 5, 1846 he returned to Canada.
In 1865 he published his Notes d’un crimeé politique de 1838, a valuable autobiography that testifies to the political events of the time.
When he died in 1891, Paul Colonnier paid tribute to him in Le Monde illustré. Prieur was “conspicuous for his bravery from the first moment and soon led the fight with great energy. But he had to yield to the arrival of regular troops at Beauharnois, whom he could not hold back with his poorly armed and bereft of everything patriots.”
After seven years in exile, “he was able to return to his family and reflect once more on the beloved shores of Canada, for which he had lived, for which he would die”.
Source: Jean Provencher, The Four Seasons