Irish Bigamy

Irish Bigamy: New Insights into Colonial New South Wales (Colonial Press, Goulburn, NSW, 2025)

Author: Damian Gleeson PhD (UNSW), PhD (UNE)

Drawing on a large number of unpublished letters from convicts and their families, the book examines findings that contradict dominant stereotypes of Irish convicts, their reasons for transportation, and life in the penal colony.

In particular, it examines relationships and bigamous marriages amongst Irish convicts (of all religious affiliations) and the clandestine and often illegal behaviour of Roman Catholic priests, notably Cork-born Fr John Joseph Therry, who was ‘Parish priest of New South Wales’.

Whereas bigamy was relatively uncommon in pre-Famine Ireland, the practice was widespread amongst Irish convicts in New South Wales at that time. Curiously, the State (British officials) condemned unofficial cohabitation but condoned bigamy between 1788 and 1825. The Roman Catholic Church condemned Irish male convicts in bigamous marriages but generally permitted women to remarry illicitly.

Attached below is an order form for people and libraries in Ireland to download. There is a special price of E37 including postage and delivery to anywhere in Ireland.