Charlotte Badger

Charlotte Badger (1778 – in or after 1818)^[1] Is an English born Australian woman, widely considered to be the first Australian female pirate. She was also one of the first two white female settlers in New Zealand.^[2]

Early life

Badger was born in 1778, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Badger. She was baptised on 31 July 1778.^[2] Her family was poor, and one day in 1796,^[3] she stole several guineas and a silk handkerchief in an attempt to support them,^[4] but was caught and arrested. She was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude in New South Wales.^[4]

Transportation

Badger arrived on the Earl Cornwallis in 1801.^[5] In 1806 she was serving at the Parramatta female factory, during which she gave birth to a daughter.^[5]

In 1806, she travelled with her child aboard the Venus, with plans to become a servant in Van Diemens Land.^[4][6] The captain of the ship, Samuel Chase, was in the habit of flogging the women for entertainment, until his charges and crew mutinied.^[4][7] Badger and another convict, Catherine Hagerty, talked the men on board into seizing the ship, while the captain was ashore at Port Dalrymple in northern Tasmania.^[8][6]

In 1806, Badger and Hagerty and their lovers, John Lancashire and Benjamin Kelly, went to the Bay of Islands in the far north of New Zealand, where they settled at the pa at Rangihoua.^[8][6] By April 1807, Hagerty had died and by the end of the year Lancashire and Kelly had also left.^[5]

In 1826, the American ship the Lafayette landed in Vavaʻu. On the ship's landing in Sydney, they reported that Charlotte Badger and her daughter had stopped there eight years earlier. Badger could speak Māori fluently and could communicate in Tongan and was travelling on a whaling ship to America.^[6][5]

Some stories suggest that the other mutineers all fled but were eventually caught and hanged,^[4] while others suggest that they went pirating after Badger, Hagerty, Lancashire and Kelly left, despite not knowing how to navigate the ship. Then Māori captured The Venus, and burned it to retrieve the scrap metal, and cooked the men on board. Meanwhile, Lancashire and Kelly were also recaptured and Hagerty died of a fever.^[8]

Controversy

Historian Jennifer Ashton has uncovered evidence suggesting neither Badger nor Hagerty were present on the Venus when it was captured.^[9]

Ashton says Charlotte Badger is listed in the New South Wales convict muster every year from her arrival in 1801 until 1825 aside from one census in 1806 (the year the Venus was captured). One possible explanation for her absence is that Badger was on the Venus but returned to Australia shortly afterwards but Ashton considers that scenario very unlikely.

"...if someone who had been involved in piracy arrived back in New South Wales that it would have made the news and that person would have faced further justice - and there’s no mention of her ever facing any further justice.”

Ashton also found documents showing Hagerty was granted a full pardon and returned to England in 1800 and says there is no record of her ever returning to Australia. She says this documentary evidence directly contradicts the depositions given by the captain of the Venus which names Badger and Hagerty as mutineers but says it is possible there was a case of mistaken identity.

References in media

• Charlotte Badger was the subject of a 2002 historical fiction novel by author Angela Badger; Angela's story later transformed into a 2008 play by Euan Rose.^[10]
• Australian/New Zealand playwright Lorae Parry told part of Charlotte Badger's story in her play Vagabonds.^[11]
• In January 2013, Jack Hayter released Charlotte Badger on Audio Antihero records, a sympathetic re-telling of the story.^[12]

References

Further reading

• Charlotte Badger – Buccaneer by Angela Badger; Published 2002, isbsbooks. ISBN 0-9578735-2-2
• "Black Sheep - Pirate Mystery: the story of Charlotte Badger". RNZ. 2018-03-19.