By Lord Nicholas Hodgkinson    John Ceasar (known as Black Caesar) was a convict who came out on the transport ship Alexander.  He was tried and convicted for stealing 240 shillings from a dwelling house and was sentenced to transportation for seven years.  During those seven years he was notorious in his behaviour, often stealing.

On 29 April 1789 Caesar was tried in the colony for theft and sentenced a second time, this time, to a life sentence.  He escaped a mere two weeks later. He took with him a pot and a musket he stole from a marine named Abraham Hand. Due to his appetite and the lack of game animals he was unable to sustain himself and stole food from the colony.

On 26 May he helped himself to a brickmaking gang’s rations on Brickfield Hill and was very nearly caught. On the night of 6 June, he tried to steal food from the house of Mr Zachariah Clark, the colony’s assistant commissary for stores, and was caught by a convict named William Saltmarsh.

The colony Judge wrote about Caesar:
This man was always reputed the hardest living convict in the colony; his frame was muscular and well calculated for hard labour; but in his intellects he did not very widely differ from a brute; his appetite was ravenous, for he would in any one day devour the full rations for two days. To gratify this appetite, he was compelled to steal from others, and all his thefts were directed to that purpose. 

Caesar had notoriously wanted to be hanged during his confinement, he had stated that if he should be hanged, he would create a laugh before he was turned off, by playing off some trick upon the executioner. Governor Phillip however saw potential in this man as a labourer and had him sent to Garden Island where he would work in chains and be provided with fruit and vegetables for him. Caesar showed good behaviour and as a reward was allowed to work without the iron belts.

On the 22 December 1789 Caesar escaped a second time while he was allowed to work freely without chains.  He stole a canoe, took a gun, robed settlers gardens and he stole from the local Aboriginals.  Just over a month later he handed himself into the camp.

However, Governor Phillip again took pity on Caesar and pardoned him and sent him on HMAT Supply in March 1790 to assist Dr Considen on Norfolk Island.   By 1 July 1791 he was supporting himself on a lot at Queensborough and was issued with a hog.  In January the following year he was given one acre (0.4 ha) and ordered to work three days a week.

John Caesar returned to Port Jackson by Kitty in 1793.  He escaped again briefly a third time but soon returned home.

Caesar a notorious escape artist by now again escaped from custody in December 1795 and led a gang of absconders in the Port Jackson area. Settlers were warned against supplying him with ammunition or food. On 29 January 1796 Governor Hunter offered a reward for his capture of five gallons of spirits.

On 15 February 1796 John Wimbow and another man tracked Caesar down at Liberty Plains.  Caesar fired at them, but Wimbrow managed to wound him. Caesar was taken to the hut of Thomas Rose where he died of his wounds.  He was survived by his daughter, Mary Ann Fisher Power by Ann Poor Lady Juliana.

John Caesar, was a native of Madagascar and was Australia’s first Bushranger.

References
Colby John, Dr. Sydney Cove 1788
Collins David, An Account of The English Colony of New South Wales
Gillen Mollie, The Founders of Australia
The Merle Pinch collection (First Fleet Fellowship Victoria Inc)