220 years and families are still friends
I am the great great great grand daughter of Sarah Goodwin, Lydia Munro’s second daughter and the first born in Norfolk Island on December 1, 1791. I have lived on the island for over 40 years. I went to school briefly on the island, married on the island and had my son on the island at the age of 17. I am the land holder of lot 105, circa 1790’s and was owned by James Chamm. He grew maize and grain for the stores. The lot is now an historic colonial farmland and parkland and is on the western side of the island.
I am keen to open the parkland to the public and would like other first fleet descendants and their families to come and visit. I have tried to position the land as how we see it on the first maps available which show open fields of pine and oak.
I want to share with you a most wonderful experience I shared with another island resident on the 220th year to the day of the sinking of the Sirius.
Last week I was standing in Kingston in the Museum and a woman I have known and befriended a few years back had also disclosed some time ago to me that her family had also been on the Sirius. We had never really discussed at length any connections. We had arranged to meet each other at the museum and just before I left home I grabbed the book Exiled Three Times Over by Irene Schaffer and Thelma McKay. Whilst we were looking around the museum she asked if she could read the book and see if her ancestor was in the book. I gave her the book and wandered off. When I arrived back Anne Howe (my friend) was reading my page on Goodwin and Munro. I said to her No you have the wrong page that is my family page. She then proceeded to read about her great great great grandmother Ann Forbes. She pointed to page 74 and under profile started to read Lydia Munro and Ann Forbes were tried on 5 April 1787 at Surrey for stealing ten yards of printed cotton, valued at 20 shillings. They were both sentenced to be hanged. Both were reprieved and transported to Botany Bay for seven years on board the Prince of Wales.
After arriving at Port Jackson….
Well it turns out that both girls arrived together on Norfolk Island on the Sirius 220 years ago. Anne disclosed to me that the girls actually came ashore at Cascade on Anne Howes birthday. Here we were looking into each others eyes and realising that the family connection has gone back to 1787 in Surrey UK and then to Norfolk Island 220 years later and now in 2010 here we were again. Our families looking at each other on this special day. You can imagine how overwhelmed we both are.
It has sparked a light in my heart that for years I have held about my family connection to the Island and how I have believed there was a reason why I was on the Island when I arrived as a child. To add to this Anne Howe now lives on a portion of land that overlooks my great great great grandparents land grant (GOODWIN and MUNRO). As I said to her all these years later and you are looking a your great great great grandmothers girlfriends land. It cannot be denied.
Anne and Denise still live on Norfolk Island and have been friends for a few years. They have just found out that their families have been friends for over 220 years and both lived on Norfolk Island 220 years ago when their ancestors arrived on the island on board the Sirius. This picture was taken on Norfolk Island Friday 19th March 2010
Denise QUINTAL
Little was heard of Ann Forbes after her arrival in Port Jackson until the baptism of her daughter Sarah in late 1789, by George Bannister. The child did not accompany Ann to Norfolk Island when she was sent there in March 1790 on the Sirius; George Bannister was also on the same voyage.
Ann became the partner of William Dring whilst living on the Island and he fathered her two children before they left the Island in November 1794 aboard Daedalus. Two more children were born in Sydney to Ann and Thomas, then the next child Jane Forbes, in August 1798 had parents recorded as Ann Dring and Thomas Jones (or Huckles (Huxley).
No marriage is recorded for Ann and Thomas Huxley, but eight more children were born to the couple during the following years while they were farming in Windsor and Richmond area.
Ann Huxley, wife of Thomas died on 29 December 1851, age given as 83 (the headstone records her as 80) at Lower Portland Head, Sackville Reach.
She was buried in St Thomas Church of England grave yard, Sackville Reach, in the Hawkesbury District, New South Wales.
Thomas died at Richmond Bottoms, three years later on 4 July 1854. He was buried in St Peter’s Church of England Richmond. The grave was restored in 1973.
The full story on Lydia Munro who was tried with Ann Forbes can be found under stories – Andrew Goodwin: Lydia Munro
© First Fleet Fellowship Victoria Inc 2011