What is John Caesar?
'''John Caesar''' (1764 – 15 February 1796), known as '''Black Caesar''', was the first [[Australia]]n [[bushranger]].<ref name=rc>{{cite book | last = Coupe| first = Robert | title = Australian Bushrangers | publisher = New Holland Publishers | date = 1998 | location = Sydney, Australia | isbn = 1864362847 }}</ref><ref name=adb/> He was also the first [[black people|black person]] with an [[African]] background to come to Australia. He was the first bushranger to have a [[reward]] offered for his capture.<ref name=rc/> ==Early life== Caesar was most likely born in [[Madagascar]],<ref name=adb> {{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/AS10070b.htm |title=Caesar, John Black (c. 1763 - 1796) Biographical Entry - Australian Dictionary of Biography Online |chapter=Caesar, John Black (C. 1763–1796) |publisher=www.adb.online.anu.edu.au |access-date=2009-03-06 }} </ref> in about 1763. He was a [[slave]] on a sugar [[plantation]] (farm) in the West Indies. He ran away and went to [[London]]. On 17 March 1786, he was in court at [[Deptford]], [[Kent]] for [[steal]]ing 240 [[shilling]]s. He was sent to the new country called Australia as a [[convict]] for seven years. He left on the [[Alexander (ship)|Alexander]], a convict transport ship in the [[First Fleet]], in May 1787 and arrived in [[Botany Bay]] in January 1788.<ref name=rc/> ==Convict life for Black Caesar== On 29 April 1789, he was caught stealing food. Two weeks later he escaped into [[the bush]], taking food, an iron cooking pot, and a [[musket]] (gun) taken from a sea army officer (Marine) named Abraham Hand. He could not catch enough animals to eat, and he began to steal food from the settlement. On 26 May, he stole food from a brick making gang at [[Brickfield Hill]] and was nearly caught. On June 6 he tried to steal food from Zachariah Clark, who was the assistant in charge of the new colony's food supplies. Caesar was caught by a convict named William Saltmarsh. In July 1789, [[David Collins (governor)|David Collins]], the [[colo