[2] He arrived in New South Wales in 1842 and was initially employed near Twofold Bay, where he had the experience of being, on his own account, 'one of the first white men ever seen among the wild tribes'.

He later moved north to take up a position as a sub-collector of customs at Maryborough on 10 December 1859 and subsequently as a Water Police Magistrate and Immigration Agent.

[2] Sheridan retired to Brisbane but moved to Sydney in 1897, where he died at Manly on 8 June and was buried in Waverley Cemetery in accordance with his Catholic faith.

[1][5] Sheridan was respected for his integrity and deep sense of fairness and humanity, and as such, he remained throughout his life a true pioneer of compassion in regard to the rights of Aboriginal people and always keenly alert to the shady sides of the infamous Melanesian labour trade.

He thus protested in public against the Native Police system he would later raise his voice in defence of the rights of Melanesian labourers.