(born ? - died 1796)
Local connection
John Caesar or Cesar was transported to Australia form Deptford and became Australia’s first bushwhacker.
Biography
John was tried at Kent quarter sessions in 1785 and sentenced to transportation for 7 years although at first he was held on a prison hulk until the Alexander finally left Portsmouth in 1788.
In Australia he was sent to labour in chains on Garden Island in Sydney harbour. In April 1789 he escaped with a musket, some rations, and an iron cooking pot. He survived for 19 days, when he was caught, he was returned to Garden Island.
The next time he escaped he stole a boat from the local Aborigines. After a month, he was caught and banished to Norfolk Island.
When he escaped again 5 years later in January 1796 the authorities offered a reward of 5 gallons of rum for his capture, dead or alive.
In February, he was ambushed and shot dead by bounty hunters in a place sadly known as Liberty Plains.