James Morisset

Lieutenant Colonel James Thomas Morisset (1780[1] – 17 August 1852), penal administrator, was commandant of the second convict settlement at Norfolk Island, from 29 June 1829 to 1834.

He was recommended for this position by Bathurst, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, and promoted lieutenant colonel, but Governor Ralph Darling appointed him instead as superintendent of police.

The Governor was apparently reluctant to appoint Morisset to Norfolk Island because of the high salary he had been promised and because he insisted on taking his family.

Morisset recommended importing a treadmill, a common form (Producing food) of punishment at the time, but the British government objected on the grounds of expense.

He observed that "the Conduct of the Prisoners has of late been outrageous in the extreme, having repeatedly avowed … to Murder every one employed at the Settlement, and it is only by the utmost vigilance that they have been prevented accomplishing their object."

During his time at Norfolk Island, Morisset was dogged by ill-health, perhaps a result of his old head wound, and in 1834, because of a violent nervous disorder, was given a year's leave in Sydney, Foster Fyans being appointed to act in his place.

Three of Morisset's sons continued his tradition of military service by becoming officers in the paramilitary Australian native police force which operated against Aboriginal groups resisting European colonisation.