8. The Castle Hill uprising led to the establishment of Newcastle
On March 10, Governor King announced an amnesty for any remaining convicts at large who turned themselves in to the authorities. Several did, while others chose to continue to elude capture. Those that were captured at Rouse Hill and its aftermath faced immediate reprisals. Several of the leaders, including Cunningham, were hanged. Others received public whippings of between 100 and 500 lashes. Still, others were sentenced to be held in irons, for indefinite periods. Some Irish convicts who did not take an active part in the insurrection, but were suspected of supporting it secretly, were sent to Norfolk Island, as prisoners.
Others who had taken part in the insurrection were sent to the coal mines at Kings Town, a settlement which had failed three years earlier. On March 15, 1804, Lieutenant Charles Menzies of the Royal Marines was assigned as superintendent of the new settlement, to be called Newcastle. The convicts and their marine guards arrived by ship, and for the next decade, Newcastle was a harsh prison colony within a prison colony. Many of the worst offenders from the other settlements were dispatched there, essentially to work as slaves in the mines. Others worked in the manufacture of lime by burning oyster shells, giving nearby Limeburner’s Bay its name.