In 1876 a remarkable old man lay dying at his Pelican Creek farm on the Far North Coast of New South Wales. It was a long way from the little village of Farley in distant Wiltshire where he was born in 1798.

Perhaps he thought about the near sinking of his convict ship in the Atlantic Ocean as it transported him to Australia and 14 years of convict servitude.

Maybe he recalled that on opposite sides of the world he had twice escaped the hangman's noose, that he had twice survived confinement in prison Hulks and twice been married.

A daring overland trek by bullock team from the Hunter Valley to pioneer new farms in the Richmond River wilderness with his extended family must also have been in his thoughts.

Follow the links to read his story in detail.