Freemasonry has been associated with the British discovery and settlement of Australia from the very beginning. Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), the naturalist who sailed into Botany Bay with James Cook in 1770 became a Freemason prior to 1768 and was a member of the Old Horn Lodge No. 4 in England.Thomas Lucas (1759-1815) a Private in the 23rd Company Marine Corps and a member of Lodge of temperance No 225 in England, arrived with the First Fleet.Captain Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) Continue Reading »
Maria Nash (Haynes)
Her story, told by descendant Rosemary SMITHRosemary joined the First Fleet Fellowship in September 1987 and holds certificate number 181. When asked how and when she found out that she was a descendant of First Fleeters, she seemed a little surprised by the question and said “I guess it’s something we’ve always known.”Here is the story of her ancestor. "This is the story of my four times grandmother, as we, her descendants know it. A lot of Australian histories Continue Reading »
Henry Waterhouse
Midshipman Henry Waterhouse arrived with the First Fleet aboard HMS Sirius. He was the eldest son of William and Susanna (Brewer) Waterhouse, born 13 December 1770 and christened 28 December 1770 at St James Middlesex. William had be page to the Duke of Cumberland who was Henry’s god-father. He entered the navy at an early age (16) and on 20 November 1786 joined HMS Sirius as midshipman (having been recommended to Captain Phillip), raising to the rank of acting third lieutenant on 28 Continue Reading »
Laurence Richards and Family
Private Marine Laurence Richards from Tiverton Devon, and his pregnant wife Mary, boarded the Prince of Wales for their voyage to Sydney Cove. Son Samuel was born on 9 October 1787 five days out from the ship’s arrival at the Cape of Good Hope.At Port Jackson, Richards was amongst a number of Marines who served in the detachment of Captain John Shea. In 1791 he decided to become a settler, sailing to Norfolk Island by Atlantic in October 1791 with Mary, Samuel and a second son Continue Reading »
James Squire
Was sentenced to transportation for seven years at the General Sessions of the Peace for the Town and Hundred at Kingston upon Thames on 11 April 1785. His crime was theft of four Cocks, five Hens and divers other Goods and Chattels the property of John Stacey. He was held in Southwark gaol until the end of March 1787, when he was sent to Portsmouth, ordered to Friendship but embarked on Charlotte. This was the second time James Squire/s had been transported.James Squire's Continue Reading »
Rachel Early
Variations of her surname on official records are Hurley, Earley, Harley, Arily. Rachel was born on 23 April 1769 at Lambourne Berkshire England. Her mothers’ name is given as Christian Early, no fathers’ name is recorded. Rachel was unemployed of St Giles London, when she was tried at Reading on 24 July 1786 for stealing an ounce of tea, tabacco and sugar, 3 yards of silk ribband and a linen cap with a value of 3 Shillings, (30 cents today). Sentenced to 7 years Continue Reading »
Watkin Tench
was a soldier and writer, who was born at Chester on 6 October 1758 in the county of Cheshire in England. He joined the Royal Marine Corps, Plymouth division, as a Second Lieutenant in 1776, and served in the American War of Independence, during which he was a prisoner-of-war for some months.In December 1786, Tench’s offer to re-enter the Corps for a three-year tour of Botany Bay was accepted, and he sailed aboard Charlotte. Before sailing with the Fleet, he arranged with a London Continue Reading »
Rebecca Boulton
Mother and child were buried within a week of each other at Sydney Cove in April 1788. The child Rebecca Bolton/Boulton was born in Lincoln Gaol around April 1786 as her mother Rebecca awaited embarkation on the Prince of Wales. It was stated at her trial, that as Rebecca Gibson, she had married Thomas Bolton at Panton Lincolnshire in 1778.Rebecca, was aged 23 when tried at Lindsey Quarter Session at Spilsby Lincolnshire on 16 July 1784. She gave a voluntary confession on 8 May Continue Reading »
Ann Daly : John Seymour
Port Jackson November 1788, convict girls Ann Daly (Warburton) and Amelia Levy were sharing a hut together. A fire was kept lit between their hut and Ann Farmer; sometimes in the evenings John Ryan and Bartholomew Reardon took advantage of the warmth from the fire.During the evening of 11 November a man had come into the girl’s hut and taken some clothing. Ann claimed that she was lying awake in her hut when the door opened and a man came in. She thought the man had come in after Continue Reading »
Dorothy Handland / Gray
Dorothy Handland is claimed to be the oldest female convict to have sailed on the First Fleet and one of the most colourful. Arthur Bowes Smyth estimated Dorothy be 82 years old, but in Newgate Prison she was recorded as 60; another entry has her as 62, which is most likely correct. Bowes Smyth’s pen and ink side faced sketch of Mother Gray, depicts a woman with a very pointy nose and chin, wearing a bonnet. Shoemaker Robert Grey married Dorothy Coolley on 22 September 1766 Continue Reading »