Patrick Logan

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Captain Patrick Logan (1791 - October 1830) is best known as commandant of Moreton Bay penal colony from 1826 until his death by murder in 1830. The identity of his killer was never discovered, although some postulate it was vengeful Aboriginal Australians who protested at his stern and unyielding manner.

Born in East Renton, Berwickshire, Scotland, he was the youngest son of a Scottish landowner and farmer, Abraham Logan and Janet Johnstown.

In 1810 he joined the 57th Foot Regiment and served in the Peninsular War.^[1] He took part in the battles of Salamanca with the retreat from Salamanca; Vittoria; Nivelle and Toulouse.

After returning to Ireland, in 1823 he married Letitia O'Beirne^[1] and they had two children Robert Abraham Logan (1824 - ?) and Letitia Bingham Logan (1826 - ?).

Logan arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, with his regiment in 1825 aboard the Hooghly, and was soon appointed Commandant of the convict settlement at Moreton Bay. It was March 1826 by the time he reached the settlement, aboard the Amity.

Many geographic features in South East Queensland bear his name, including Logan City and the Logan River.

Logan was the first European explorer to visit the upper reaches of the Brisbane River and other places in the vicinity including the areas now known as Esk and the mountain rainforests of Lamington National Park and Mount Barney National Park. Captain Logan unsuccessfully attempted to climb Mount Barney on the 13 and 14 June 1827.^[2]

Logan's death is central to the folk song Moreton Bay which represents Logan as a bloody tyrant. "Captain Logan, he had us mangled, on the triangles of Moreton Bay", attributes his death to "a native black", and concludes "my fellow prisoners, be exhilarated, that all such monsters, such death may find".

[edit] See also

• History of Brisbane

[edit] References

• The Courier Mail Extras
• J G Steele, The Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770 - 1830, UQ Press, 1972.