(Montreal) Two wooden crosses that were fashioned from the wreckage of a wrecked ship in New Zealand have returned to Quebec to honor the wish of a French Canadian who rebelled against British rule there over 185 years ago.
François-Xavier Prieur was one of dozens of patriots who were deported to Australia aboard HMS Buffalo because of their participation in the 1837-1838 rebellion in Lower Canada. In his memoirs, he spoke of his desire to see pieces of the ship sent home as a remembrance of what he suffered.
In May, his wish was finally granted, thanks to a Quebec and Australian film crew and officials in New Zealand, where the HMS Buffalo was wrecked in 1840, shortly after Mr Prieur arrived in Australia.
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 crosses’ journey to Quebec. According to him, this event was very moving.
“I think it really made us realize that we were granting the wish that someone made 185 years ago,” he recently confessed in an interview with The Canadian Press.
On May 22, on the occasion of National Patriots’ Day, the two small crosses were presented to the descendants of Mr. Prieur in a church in Saint-Polycarpe during a special ceremony.
This whole story began in 2022 with the release of the documentary The Bay of Exileswhich tells the story of Mr. Prieur and the 57 other patriots deported to Australia aboard the ship.
Canadian-Australian filmmaker Deke Richards’ documentary captured the imagination of Heritage New Zealand office manager Bill Edwards, who then read a translation of Mr Prieur’s memoir and was moved by his writings.
“A wounded person remembers the bullet or shrapnel that has been removed from his torn flesh. Well ! I would like to own a small cross made of the wood of which this frigate is built, in the sides of which both my heart and my body have been lacerated by unworthy treatment,” wrote François-Xavier Prieur in his memoirs.
In his Notes of a Political Convict from 1838Mr Prieur described his grueling five-month journey on the ship, where prisoners were held in cramped, unventilated quarters below deck and had to live with vermin, scurvy and seasickness.
It was after reading this book that Mr. Edwards decided to get involved “to have these crosses made, which should have been made 180 years ago,” he said.
Three crosses have therefore been fashioned from the wood of the wreck of the HMS Buffalo, which lies in Mercury Bay, off Whitianga, New Zealand. One remained in New Zealand, while the other two were sent to Quebec.
The ceremony which took place in May in Saint-Polycarpe was a very special moment for Gilles Boismenu and Ronald Prieur, who are descendants of François-Xavier Prieur.
Mr. Boismenu, 72, said he was particularly proud to know more about his family’s history.
“It’s a source of pride in my family. It’s part of my story, ”he said in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press.
Source of inspiration
Samuel Pineault, the documentary’s co-producer, explained that the film’s story highlights the influence the Patriots had on Australia and New Zealand during their years there.
Since literacy levels were low in those countries at the time, the diaries of exiled men are some of the few written accounts that exist of the time, he said.
Also, the arrival of well-educated people from abroad “has inspired people a bit, including in New Zealand, to develop their own democracies”, he noted.
The making of the documentary took several years, according to Mr. Pineault, who is still waiting for funding to obtain the necessary authorizations to broadcast his documentary on a large scale.
After the ceremony, the crosses were given to Mr. Pineault, who specifies that they will eventually be offered to museums. Mr. Boismenu and he hope that these relics of the past can be used to make known this little-known chapter in the history of Quebec.