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Tin box found in Deposition Papers

Contents

A document box

A document box

This item was found by one of our volunteers in a Supreme Court Deposition paper (from NRS 880). The exhibit related to the trial of Christopher Nowlan, who was charged with cattle stealing at the Maitland Circuit Court in 1845. Nowlan was a a convict who had arrived on the Phoenix in 1826.

So what did this tin contain?

The police officer who arrested Nowlan explained in his testimony that Nowlan carried his petition for a Conditional Pardon that had been sent to the to the Colonial Secretary's Office. His original pardon had been stolen from him but he kept the letter as proof that he was a free man.

Now that’s good record keeping!

See convict entries for Christopher Nowlan in Collection Search »

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