Norfolk Island penal colony administrator
Joseph Wakefield, (23 March 1793 - 17 May 1840) soldier and penal administrator, of the 39th Regiment was the acting commandant of the second convict settlement at Norfolk Island, from February 1829 to 27 May 1829.
By this time there were about 200 convicts on the island. Several buildings had been constructed of locally produced timber, stone, shingles and lime, including a prisoners' barracks, three-storey barracks for troops, quarters for civil officers and a military hospital. The remains of some of these buildings can still be seen at Kingston. Wakefield was soon replaced by the man who had sought the commandant's position since 1825, James Morisset.
Wakefield remained at Norfolk Island as supervisor of works possibly beyond November 1829.
In July 1832 Wakefield sailed with others from the 39th Regiment in Australia to India.
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