Fred Carter (convict)
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Frederick Carter was a convict transported
Penal transportation
Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...

 to Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, later to become one of the colony
Penal colony
A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...

's ex-convict school teachers
Ex-convict school teachers in Western Australia
Following Western Australia's convict era, 37 ex-convicts were appointed school teachers in the colony. The appointment of such a large number of ex-convicts to what was considered a respectable government position was highly unusual for a penal colony, as the social stigma of conviction usually...

.

Frederick Carter was born in 1835. A gunsmith
Gunsmith
A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds firearms. This occupation is different from an armorer. The armorer primarily maintains weapons and limited repairs involving parts replacement and possibly work involving accurization...

 by trade, he had a lifelong interest in sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

s, especially horseracing, and he was an outstanding rider and trainer of horses. In 1865, Carter was found guilty of a felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...

 by the Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 courts, and sentenced to ten years' penal servitude. The following year, he was transported to Western Australia on board the Corona, arriving in December 1866. After receiving his ticket of leave, Carter was employed as a servant of another ex-convict, Theodore Richards
Theodore Richards (convict)
Theodore Richards was a convict transported to Western Australia, who later became one of the colony's ex-convict school teachers....

. Richards was a school teacher at Katrine school, and Carter was sometimes asked to assist with teaching.

In 1870, Carter took a teaching post at Seven Springs, near Newcastle, but attendance was poor and this affected his salary. The following year he accepted a teaching appointment at Bejoording
Bejoording, Western Australia
Bejoording is a small town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.The first European to visit the area was George Fletcher Moore who explored the area in 1836. Moore recorded the Aboriginal name of the area as Bejoording....

, where there was a regular attendance of around 25 pupils. He remained there until 1874. During that time he rode to Newcastle (now Toodyay
Toodyay, Western Australia
Toodyay is a town located in the Wheatbelt region in the Avon Valley, 85 km north-east of Perth, Western Australia. Toodyay is connected to Perth via both rail and road.-History:...

) every weekend to help in a racing stables. He also had a servant, and employed other ex-convicts to cut sandalwood
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...

. Erickson (1983) writes that he was also an impressive hurdler: "Not for him the tedium of dismounting to let down the sliprails. He hurdled every gate and fence across his path".

In 1875, Carter accepted an appointment as school master at Gwalla (now Northampton
Northampton, Western Australia
Northampton is a town north of Geraldton, in the Mid West region of Western Australia. At the 2006 census, the town had a population of 813. It is historic, with an outstanding National Trust building. The town lies on the North West Coastal Highway. Formerly named Gwalla after the location's...

). The following year he moved again to Ludlow.
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