Joseph Anderson (Commandant)

Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Anderson CB KH (1 July 1790 – 18 July 1877), soldier and penal administrator, of the 50th Regiment, was commandant of the second convict settlement at Norfolk Island, from March 1834 to February 1839. Anderson was also a politician, a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1852 to 1856.

Anderson was born in Keoldale, Sutherland, Scotland, the son of James Anderson of the township of Respond,Durness.

Anderson joined the 78th Regiment at the age of fifteen. He saw action in the Napoleonic Wars – at the Battle of Maida, Egypt, the Peninsular War, and Guadeloupe. In 1826 he was appointed major in the 50th Regiment, and arrived in Sydney, New South Wales in 1834.

Anderson was sent by Governor Bourke to Norfolk Island following the unsuccessful revolt of the convicts during the last days of James Morisset and his deputy Foster Fyans. As a result of Anderson's investigation into the revolt, thirteen convicts were executed and sixteen others sentenced to death but had their sentences commuted. Anderson encouraged religious teaching for the convicts, and began a school, teaching the convicts how to read. Many of the convict buildings still standing on the island were built during Anderson's rule, including the Commissariat's building, used today as the Anglican church, and the stone houses along what is known today as Quality Row. Punishments continued to be severe – five men received 1,500 lashes before breakfast on one occasion – and Anderson extracted harsh extremes of labour from the prisoners, punishing anyone who lagged behind and making them work after hours until they dropped. The island was relatively peaceful under Anderson's administration, although the Reverend Thomas Atkins thought him unfitted for the position, and accused him of cruelties, fraud and gross abuses of his position for financial gain.

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