1852 - Daoranach air a chuir a-null gu Tìr Van Diemen – Convict Transported to Van Diemens Land

Angus Mackay, born in Miavaig in 1833, left Portsmouth on the
St Vincent with over 200 other male convicts on the last transport ship to Van Diemens land. At the age of sixteen while working as a shepherd for George Mitchell of Timsgarry farm, he was charged with being involved in “a system of sheep stealing in Uig.” He could neither read nor write and the local minister had to translate from his native Gaelic at his trial.

After 181 days at sea he arrived in Hobart to begin his seven year sentence. A Ticket of Leave allowed him to work on settlers’ farms and he received a pardon before the end of his term. Convicts had to repay the cost of their passage.

Angus married and had nine children and by 1901 he was the owner of 100 acres of farmland. He never returned to Uig, and is buried with his wife in Westbury, Tasmania.

^{Angus Mackay, 1833-1924}