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| Author | Mark Jeffrey |
| Binding | Hardback Leather Bound |
| Edition | Facsimile |
| Item Status | Unavailable at present. Copy recently sold. Please enquire to be placed on Wait List |
| Publisher | Wellington Bridge Press |
| Release Date | 01 Nov 2018 |
| Price | |
| Weight | 0.034kg |
| ISBN | WBPS0041 |
A BURGLAR’S LIFE
Facsimile edition. Originally published 1893
Mark Jeffrey (1825-1894)
Mark Jeffrey was a rather colourful convict who had been a resident grave digger on The Isle Of The Dead, Port Arthur Tasmania.
However, in this book, A Burglar’s Life, originally published in 1893, about him and undoubtedly ghost-written in the first person, Mark Jeffrey devotes only a few lines of his time living on this isolated burial ground.
In later years, other writers have published anecdotes regarding his time on the island. Whether there is any truth in these stories is questionable. In one of them, it was reported that, whilst living on the Island, Jeffrey despaired at ever leaving that place, and as a consequence, dug his own grave. He supposedly took great care with the task and ensured it was well dug and devoid of any worms, which may feast upon his remains.
In another recollection, Jeffrey states that whilst he was on the Isle he was visited by the Devil (or “His Satanic Majesty” as Jeffery referred to him) during the night; an event which disturbed him so much it caused him to request that he be removed from the island.
He was charged with attempted murder whilst serving time in the convict hulk, Warrior, at Woolwich, for assault and burglary.
In 1850 he was transported, per Eliza, to Norfolk Island penal settlement.
He was relocated to Van Diemen's Land in 1852 and removed to Port Arthur to serve 6 months in the Separate Prison after a controversy over provisions. This was to be the first of several terms Mark Jeffrey served at Port Arthur.
Finally, he was sent to the Hobart Gaol in 1877, and after completion of his time there, was then sent, in 1890, to an Invalid Station in Launceston as a ticket-of-leave man.
Final resting place
Until recently, it was believed he died and was buried in Launceston and his death said to be in 1903, but it seems that his final resting place, according to Southern Cemeteries records, is in Hobart Cornelian Bay Cemetery Site No. 516.
His record of death in the Deaths of the District of Hobart lists him as:
No 1216 Died 17th July 1894 in Newtown aged 68 years, Pauper, Of Peritonitis, Tumour of the Heart
He, thus, thankfully avoided being buried in the grave he had made for himself on the Isle of the Dead (it remained open and unfilled for years after his death).