Joseph Anderson (Commandant)

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Major Joseph Anderson (1790-1877), soldier and penal administrator, of the 50th Regiment, was commandant of the second convict settlement at Norfolk Island, from March 1834 to February 1839.

Anderson was born at Keoldale, Sutherland Scotland on 1 July 1790 and joined the 78th Regiment at the age of fifteen. He saw action in theNapoleonic Wars - at the Battle of Maida, Egypt, the Peninsular War, and Guadeloupe. In 1826 he was appointed major in the 50th Regiment, and arrived in Sydney, New South Wales in 1834.

He was sent by Governor Bourke to Norfolk Island following the unsuccessful revolt of the convicts during the last days of Morisset and his deputy Fyans. As a result of Anderson's investigation into the revolt, thirteen convicts were executed and sixteen others sentenced to death but had their sentences commuted. Anderson encouraged religious teaching for the convicts, and began a school, teaching the convicts how to read. Many of the convict buildings still standing on the island were built during Anderson's rule, including the Commissariat's building, used today as the Anglican church, and the stone houses along what is known today as Quality Row. He gained the nickname of 'Potato Joe' for requesting that potatoes be added to the convicts' diet. Punishments continued to be severe - five men received 1,500 lashes before breakfast on one occasion - and Anderson extracted harsh extremes of labor from the prisoners, punishing anyone who lagged behind and making them work after hours until they dropped. The island was relatively peaceful under Anderson's administration, although the Reverend Thomas Atkins thought him unfitted for the position, and accused him of cruelties, fraud and gross abuses of his position for financial gain.

Following his time at Norfolk Island, Anderson took up land at Mangalore in the Port Phillip District (later the colony of Victoria) of New South Wales. After another stint in the army in India, he returned to Australia and settled in South Yarra. From 1852 to 1856 Anderson was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council, where he supported the Convicts Prevention Act and opposed the influx of Chinese gold miners. He died at Melbourne on 18 July 1877.

A biographer described Anderson as a “firm disciplinarian, …[and] a courageous soldier, but limited in outlook and with a well-developed acquisitive sense.”

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