Mongrel history

Last night I came across and article written about one of my ancestor's. Being Tasmanian born and bred, to discover I was from convict stock was not a surprise, and to my delight, I found my ancestor was a very interesting and resourceful fellow. Below I've copied one mention of him I found on the net.

One successful Van Diemen’s Land escapee was a convict named Cripps. Cripps was employed as a dog-handler for a while before being taken back to Port Arthur to join a timber-cutting gang. His other job was to prepare the dog food and, being an entrepreneur, he stole flour from the recipe (they didn’t have Pal) to sell on the black market. He was caught and, facing the lash, took off. He made his way to Eaglehawk Neck dog pound and, because the dogs knew him, he was welcome. He stole two of the dogs (who were also more than happy to have some freedom) and took them into the bush.

Cripps built a large, comfortable, bark hut and lived contentedly for 18 months or so, hunting game with the dogs, and occasionally nipping back to Port Arthur to abscond with some flour, sugar, soap, salt and cabbages. He was discovered by chance when an officer (coincidentally the one who had previously owned the two dogs) stumbled on his hut. Apart from Cripps, he also found more than 1800 kangaroo and wallaby skins, neatly tied in bundles.

Cripps was packed off to Port Arthur again, for an extended stay and 100 lashes, but lived out his final years as a free man.
http://www.warrenfahey.com/dogs-1.htm

Isn't it funny that more than 170 years later one of his ancestor's makes their living making Mongrel Socks. A leaning toward entrepreneurial pursuits may well be a family trait, one I'm happy to have.