years his record indicates that he was often fined for drunkenness. A bout of severe illness in 1883 saw him in the Newcastle depot hospital for a month. He never fully recovered his health. In 1885 he received his conditional release. Sykes spent the last few years of his life working on the railway from Clackline to Newcastle. Late in December 1890, he was found lying ill in his hut on the Clackline railway; he was removed to Newcastle Hospital, where he was diagnosed as suffering from a hepatitic ulcer and chronic hepatitis. He died five days later on 4 January 1891 and was buried in a mass grave in the Toodyay cemetery. His few belongings, including an old gun and his dog, were sold to recoup the £2/15/- that it cost the government to provide the coffin. Legacy Sykes may have remained a historically insignificant character, if not for the discovery in 1931 of a collection of letters written to him by his wife. The letters were found in a crevice during the demolition of old police buildings at Toodyay, and handed in to the Royal Western Australian Historical Society, which lodged them with the State Archives of Western Australia. Many years later, the social historian Alexandra Hasluck rediscovered the letters and researched Sykes. The results of her research were published as her 1959 book Unwilling Emigrants. Notes References 1827 births 1891 deaths Convicts transported to Western Australia People from Wentworth, South Yorkshire English people convicted of manslaughter English emigrants to Australia People from Toodyay, Western Australia