William Redfern

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William Redfern (c.1774^[1] – July 1833) was a leading surgeon in early colonial New South Wales.

[edit] Early life

Redfern appears to have been born in Canada^[1] and raised in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England. He passed the examination of the London Company of Surgeons in 1797 and was commissioned as a surgeon's mate in the Royal Navy.

[edit] Mutiny

Redfern was sentenced to death for his part in the naval Mutiny of the Nore in 1797. After spending four years in an English jail he was transported to New South Wales in 1802.

[edit] Career in New South Wales

Redfern was granted a conditional pardon soon afterward arriving in Sydney, and in 1803 a full pardon by governor King. As early as 1804 Redfern had been advocating the new smallpox vaccination. After being certified that he was "qualified to exercise the profession of a surgeon, etc."^[2]