caption death_date death_place conviction birth_place conviction_penalty birth_date image article_title charge
joseph hobart 's potaski 's plaque at st. davids , 1824 hobart , tasmania guilty poland transportation 1764 josephpotaski44.jpg joseph potaski
 stealing
joseph potaski

joseph potaski or john potaskie -lrb- c. 1764 -- 31 august 1824 -rrb- was the first pole to settle in australia , and one of the first convicts to arrive in van diemen 's land on the ocean .
joseph potaski worked hard to establish himself as a successful farmer in colonial hobart .
this was however undone by the exploits of his family .
joseph potaski reflects the attitudes of those convicts who never progressed beyond their criminal past .
potaski is seen as representing the auspicious beginning of the polish community in australia .
his daughter , catherine , was the first european born and baptised in the new colony of van diemens land .
