Crosses from New Zealand shipwreck sent to Quebec in honor of 19th century patriot

A few wooden ones cross made by a castaway in New Zealand has been sent to Quebec to honor the 185-year-old wish of a francophone man who rebelled against British rule.

François-Xavier Prieur was one of dozens of patriots exiled to Australia aboard HMS Buffalo as punishment for their part in the 1837-1838 rebellion in Lower Canada, present-day Quebec. He later wrote in his memoirs of his wish that pieces of the ship be sent to his home as a reminder of what he had suffered.

Last month, his wish was granted, thanks to a Quebec-Australian film crew and officials in New Zealand, where HMS Buffalo sank in 1840, shortly after Prieur arrived in Australia, formerly a British penal colony.

Kurt Bennett, who works for Heritage New Zealand and is a member of the HMS Buffalo Re-examination Project, helped organize a ceremony in April to mark the start of the crosstrip to Canada. He said it was an emotional moment, partly due to the presence of a descendant of the prisoners.

“I think it was that sudden realization that now 185 years later we are fulfilling someone’s wish; also knowing that family connection, I think it was quite a moving day,” he said in a recent interview.

On May 22 – National Patriot Day in Quebec – the two are small cross were presented to Prieur’s descendants at a church in Saint-Polycarpe, Que., west of Montreal, in a one-hour ceremony that included speeches, a historical reenactment, and symbolic gunfire.

The plan was put in motion after a 2022 showing of a documentary called “Land of a Thousand Sorrows Revisited”, which tells the story of Prieur and the 57 other patriots who were exiled to Australia aboard the ship.

The documentary by Canadian-Australian filmmaker Deke Richards captured the imagination of Bill Edwards, the manager of Heritage New Zealand’s Northland office, who then read a translation of Prieur’s memoir and was moved by his words.

“A wounded man keeps as a memento the bullet or piece of shrapnel that has been recovered by his torn flesh,” Prieur wrote. ‘Well, I’d like a cross too by wood by out of which this frigate is built, inside of which my heart and my body were torn apart by unworthy treatment.

In the diary, Prieur described the grueling five-month voyage on the ship, during which prisoners were held below decks in cramped, unventilated quarters and suffered from vermin, scurvy, and violent seasickness.

Edwards decided to help carry out the plan, “to get some cross made, which should have been made 180 years ago,” he said.

Bennett said three cross are made by pieces of wood that washed ashore by the wreck of HMS Buffalo, which lies in Mercury Bay, near Whitianga, New Zealand. One was held in New Zealand, while two were sent to Quebec.

The May Ceremony in Quebec was an emotional moment for Gilles Boismenu and Ronald Prieur, descendants of François-Xavier Prieur. Boismenu, 72, said he was proud to learn more about his family history, describing the ceremony as “pretty incredible.”

“This is something my family is proud of,” he said in a recent phone interview. “This is part of my history.”

Sam Pineault, the co-producer of the documentary, known in French as “La baie des exilés,” says the story highlights the influence the Patriots had on Australia and New Zealand during the years they spent there.

Because literacy levels were low in those areas at the time, the diaries of the exiled men are some of the few written records in existence by the period, he said. Furthermore, the arrival of well-educated people by abroad “brought a little bit of inspiration to the people, including New Zealand, so they could develop their own democracies,” he said.

Pineault said it took several years to make the documentary, adding that he was waiting for funding to get the necessary permissions for it to be widely released.

After the ceremony, the cross were given to Pineault, who says they will eventually be offered to museums. Both he and Boismenu hope relics can be used to raise awareness of a little-known chapter in Quebec history.