Cirrus@Austlit

Daniel Heustis was an American who was transported to Van Diemen's Land for his participation in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837-1838.

Born in Vermont in 1806, Huestis became interested in the patriotic movement in Upper Canada when two of the movement's leaders passed through his town in the mid 1830s. On 10 January 1838, he gave up business to devote himself to the cause of Canadian independence.

After the failure of the rebellion on 13 January 1838, Huestis and his fellow rebels were tried in Montreal in late 1838 and early 1839. Heustis and other rebels were transported to Australia aboard the HMS Buffalo, arriving in Tasmania in 1840.

Pardoned in 1844, he seems to have left the colony almost immediately: The Larkin Papers for the History of California (volume three: 1845) concludes the 'List of Passengers per Ship Steiglitz, S. Young Master from Hobart Town to Oahu' with the sentence 'Daniel D. Huestis and John Thomas have come to Monterey'.