17 December 1803: The famous Wicklow guerrilla leader, Michael Dwyer, surrendered to the British on this day. Since the failure of the Rising in 1798 he had kept up a resistance campaign in the Wicklow Mountains. Despite Dublin Castle putting a price on his head and conducting numerous sweeps of area by the Crown Forces Dwyer and his determined band always managed to evade capture. However the years of hardship in such a barren terrain and the mistreatment of members of his family in retaliation by the British led him to decide to call it a day and he came in of his own accord. While his life was spared he was imprisoned in Kilmainham Jail and subject to harsh treatment there.

In 1805 he was transported to Botany Bay as a free man but was accused of sedition and imprisoned as a convict. He clashed there with the Governor, Captain Bligh of Bounty fame and was sent by him to Norfolk Island where conditions were diabolical. When Bligh was recalled in 1808 he was able to return to Sydney and was eventually given 100 acres on which to settle and farm. Ironically he became a local Constable and aquired a large farm in Liverpool NWS. He eventually went bankrupt and died in Sydney of dysentry on 23rd August 1825.