Pat, thank you very much for that information. We have searched for years and had little to show for it...this site is amazing for the amount of help it generates from the members.
A second cousin has been researching the family for 20 years and is a member of The Genealogical Society of Victoria (GSV) and part of his report follows:
The GSV library have a copy of the Irish Transportation Records, and using the information on the printout for Joseph Day, I was able to access the film of the original hand written lists of prisoners from Queens Co convicted in 1849. These were the lists transcribed to produce the records you found. From this I was able to see that of 21 on that page,Joseph was one of nine tried by "The Lord Chief Justice Doherty", between 12th July and the end of the year. Perhaps more significantly, Joseph and one other, John Delany, were listed consecutively as being tried and convicted on the same day for malicious assault, and were both given seven years transportation.
It is a bit of a long shot, but I thought it possible that they were tried and convicted for the same incident, and that any trial details for one would give similar details for the other. As John Delany was listed as being transported on the "Robert Small", I followed his trail and found that he was transported to WA, arriving in Fremantle on 16 August 1853. His convict number is given as 2224 and he gained his ticket of leave on 15 December 1853. From these details we may be able to learn more about the details of his charge and the court proceedings. I will try to follow this up. By the way he died in 1892 in Newcastle and was unmarried. You never know, we may learn something about this Joseph Day by going sideways for a bit.
We now have just one more piece of the puzzle to go and we have heard rumours of a breakout in 1850, but have lost contact with the person who told us about it.
As they say - one door closes and another one slams in your face.
Thanks again Pat.
