3/20/2023 0 Comments Cursed barney![]() Spencer-Salt embellished the story with additional elements: the murder of two warders, Barney’s long, straggly beard and shreds of clothing, his extraordinary height, and the lurid curse. It was repeated in The Australian Traveller in October 1928, and by the 1930s the story was so popular that it appeared on a postcard published by local photographer Henry Spencer-Salt. This account contains all the main elements of the story: the escape, the seven years in the tree, the capture, the curse, the execution, the drowning, and the headstone. The convict’s name was Barney Duffy, and the valley is still called Barney Duffy’s Valley. A head-stone in the cemetery close by records their death. “I hope that the two soldiers who caught me will be drowned the next time they go fishing.” - They were. Before he was shot, he was asked had he anything to say. In the hollow of this tree on Norfolk Island, a convict lived for seven years, but was ultimately caught by soldiers. Reference to the story occurs in the Sydney Daily Telegraph in 1923: A CONVICT’S HIDING-PLACE. Rosalind, however, makes no mention of the Barney Duffy story. Later she became Pitcairn Island’s schoolteacher and chronicler, and was certainly very knowledgeable about the Pitcairn heritage on Norfolk Island. She came to Norfolk Island in 1856 but returned with her parents to Pitcairn in 1864. Rosalind was born on Pitcairn Island, the daughter of Simon Young and Mary Buffett Christian. The story of Bloody Bridge also seems to have been transmitted at this time, according to Rosalind Amelia Young (Mutiny of the Bounty and Story of Pitcairn Island 1790–1894, 1894). They were probably more interested in the possibility of whaling on the island.) (The Pitcairners, of course, were experienced whaling men and knew exactly what the bone was. For example, upon finding a whale bone on the beach, the convicts told the Pitcairners that it was Captain Deering’s soup ladle. This holding party didn’t stay long, but they did tell the Pitcairners some tall stories. When the Pitcairners came to Norfolk in 1856, they were greeted by a holding party of convicts and officials. Obviously, the subject matter relates to the convict period, but how did the Pitcairners come to know it? ![]() ![]() What do we know about Barney Duffy? The answer is “Not much!” In fact, I don’t know where Barney’s story comes from. The curse apparently worked as the young soldiers who captured Barney later drowned while fishing. Barney was a convict escapee who spent seven years hiding in a hollow pine tree until captured and hung, although not before he cursed his captors. Just about everyone who comes to Norfolk Island hears the story of Barney Duffy.
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