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Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, a swindler and a thief, now transported to New South Wales for the second time and for life.
Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, a swindler and a thief, now transported to New South Wales for the second time and for life.

Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, a swindler and a thief, now transported to New South Wales for the second time and for life.

Author (English, born 1782)
Date1827
Object number00006804
NameBook
MediumPaper
DimensionsOverall: 24 x 179 x 115 mm, 0.3 kg
ClassificationsBooks and journals
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionA book by convict James Hardy Vaux titled 'Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, a Swindler and a Thief, now Transported to New South Wales for the Second Time and for Life.' Vaux would actually be sentenced to three periods of transportation to Australia, the last being handed down in August 1830.HistoryJames Vaux Harvey was a gambler, thief, swindler and highly intelligent. His eloquence and apparent natural charm saw him survive possible death sentences and three journeys as a convict to Australia. Although he reoffended throughout his life, Harvey also experienced periods of honest work such as six years clerking in the colonial secretary’s office in Sydney from 1820 - 1826. Harvey was encouraged to write his memoirs during his second sentence in Newcastle by Judge Barron Field for whom he was clerking. Field published the work and the 332-word dictionary Harvey had compiled in 1812 of “flash language” as way for magistrates such as Field to understand the criminal coded dialogue. These would be the first auto biography and dictionary published in Australia and bought some fame to Harvey and a small payment. The book was reprinted and the London Magazine described the work as 'one of the most singular that ever issued from the press'. Harvey himself was a complex character, marrying multiple times, using alias' and being charged with various crimes of theft, forgery and assault. Through multiple escape attempts, periods of hard labour in Moreton Bay and Newcastle, he remained an eloquent speaker and writer. It is said his manners were always courteous and his speech “remarkably soft and insinuating'. Despite his relative fame in New South Wales, Harvey disappeared from the records in 1841 after another release at the age of 59.SignificanceThis memoir by James Hardy Vaux was the first full-length autobiography written in Australia and is an insight into the transportation system in place at that time. Vaux consistently reoffended and was never reformed yet somehow managed to keep favour with colonial administrators due to “the elegance of his dress, and his specious appearance, and good deal of contrivance.”