Captain Patrick Logan (baptised 15 November 1791 – 17 October 1830) was a Scottish army officer who was the commandant of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement from 1826 until his death in 1830 at the hands of Aboriginal Australians. As he had been despised by convicts who were brutalised at his say-so, there were rumours that convicts who had managed to escape and were camping in the bush, had attacked him as an act of revenge, but there is no evidence of this.

Logan had a distinguished military career. He was infamous as the strict commandant of the penal colony, to the point of viscous cruelty and the inhumane treatment of convict prisoners. Logan made significant explorations of what was to become known as South East Queensland. He was the first European to discover the area which became Ipswich, Queensland and some consider him to be the founder of Queensland. He took part in the battles of Salamanca with the retreat from Salamanca; Vittoria; Nivelle and Toulouse. Logan's regiment was sent to Canada in 1814 where he stayed for a year before joining the Duke of Wellington's Army of Occupation in Paris.

He designed and oversaw the construction of a hospital, a jail and a windmill. He administered crops of wheat and maize at various locations. He believed that the settlement was a place to punish the convicts, forcing them to work by hand from sunrise to sunset. justifying the extreme criticism bestowed on him in the contemporary ballad Moreton Bay.

Explorations

He also systematically explored the outer part of south-east Queensland. He discovered the southern entrance to Moreton Bay, now known as the Gold Coast Broadwater. He named the McPherson Range, Birnam Range, Teviot Brook and Wilsons Peak.

Logan was the first European explorer to visit the upper reaches of the Brisbane River and other places in the vicinity including the areas now known as Esk and the mountain rainforests of Lamington National Park and Mount Barney National Park. He was the first European to explore the Bremer River, where he discovered deposits of limestone at a point later to become known as Ipswich.

Captain Logan unsuccessfully attempted to climb Mount Barney on 13 and 14 June 1827. On a return journey, Logan, Allan Cunningham, Charles Fraser and a small party attempted to ascend the peak, believing they were climbing Mount Warning, which was first identified by James Cook. A determined Logan carried on while the rest were too fearful of the hazardous and difficult climb. From atop the summit, which was at the time the highest point reached in Australia,

As the horse had evidently failed to leap over the creek resulting in its death, it has been conjectured that the injuries and death of Captain Logan may have been accidental. However, contemporary news reports are emphatic that he was murdered with native weapons, as proved by the settlement's surgeon, Mr Cowper, at an inquest.

In November 1830, Logan was buried in the Protestant burial ground in Surry Hills, Sydney. Moreton Bay convicts "manifested insane joy at the news of his murder, and sang and hoorayed all night, in defiance of the warders." The ballad Moreton Bay represents Logan as a bloody tyrant. "Captain Logan, he had us mangled, on the triangles of Moreton Bay", attributes his death to "a native black", and concludes "my fellow prisoners, be exhilarated, that all such monsters such a death may find". In the long poem A Convict's Tour to Hell, written in 1839 by the convict Francis MacNamara, also thought to have composed the Moreton Bay lyrics, the convict sees Captain Logan suffering in hell.

Many geographic features in South East Queensland bear his name. These include Logan City, the Logan Motorway and Logan Road, Logan River, Logan Central, Logan Village, Logan Reserve, Loganholme, Loganlea and Logans Ridge. A commemorative plaque to one of Logan's expeditions can be found in Tully Memorial Park by the Logan River at North Maclean. The Queensland state electorate of Logan is also named for him.

The Commandant (1975) is a historical fiction novel by Jessica Anderson which describes the Moreton Bay penal settlement under Logan's command and the events surrounding his death from the viewpoint of his wife's sister Frances (a fictional character), who lives with the Logan family at the penal colony.

See also

  • Convicts in Australia
  • List of explorers

References

Further reading

  • Colonial Secretary's papers 1822-1877, State Library of Queensland- includes digitised correspondence and letters written by Logan and his wife Letitia to the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales on matters such as the Moreton Bay settlement and Logan's Colonial Pension
  • Patrick Logan Letterbook 1826-1830, State Library of Queensland