Our First Farmer Henry Edward Dodd was an experienced farm hand, who arrived with Governor Phillip, a servant of his since his days as a farmer in the New Forest. Dodd was found to be the only free man who could be employed cultivating the lands on the public account. In February 1788 he supervised clearing and hoeing operations at the head of Farm Cove and soon had a few acres under corn. Early in November 1788 Phillip established a military outpost at Rose Hill. He entrusted the Continue Reading »
Mary Allen
Mary Allen, sentenced on 25 October 1786 at the Old Bailey to transportation for seven years, was recorded as being one of the lowliest women to be transported. Mary, thought to be a previous offender, was found guilty of theft of a watch and money, was sent to Newgate prison and was embarked on Lady Penrhyn on 6 January 1787, her age recorded as 22. Mary’s first protector in this harsh new land of Sydney Cove, was Frederick Meredith, a seaman steward from Scarborough. They had a daughter Continue Reading »
Richard Morgan
Richard Morgan arrived in Van Diemen’s Land with his family on 7 October 1806. He was a First Fleeter and Norfolk Islander. Richard Morgan was born in England. He was convicted in 1785 at Gloucester on the oaths of ‘John Trevillian Ceely Trevillian Esq and others’. The offence was, stealing in the dwelling house of the said Richard Morgan (sic) one metal watch value three pounds and also charged with assaulting the said John Ceely Trevillian and threatening to murder him and by force Continue Reading »
Susannah Gough
SUSANNAH’S STORY Susannah GARTH/GRAH/GRATES/GOUGH Born c.1763, died June 1841, Hobart, Tasmania. Her Crime Feloniously stealing, on the 19th day of August 1783, nine guineas, value 91. 9s. and one half guinea, value 10s. and sixpence. Susannah was drinking with Elizabeth Dudgeon and a man thought to be a seaman who had just returned from Plymouth, possibly with his wages in his pocket. The man, William Waterhouse was warned to be more moderate, but replied “I mean to be gay”. Some of Continue Reading »
George Guest
(1757-1841) born in Prestbury, Gloucester, was sentenced to death at Gloucester Lenten Assizes on 24 March 1784 on two counts of theft for stealing ten live pigs and a chestnut mare. The sentence was reduced to seven years transportation to America. Initially the 17 year old was taken to the hulk Censor where he stayed for 3 years and at the end of February 1787 transferred to the Alexander to leave for New South Wales with the First Fleet. After almost a year at Sydney Cove, Continue Reading »
Ellen Wainwright
Our First Fleet Connectionis the story of Ellen Wainwright, compiled by her descendant Lawrence Kauffman who gleaned the information from the historical record entitled Her Blood in Our Veins, as researched and recorded by Irene Donald also a descendant of Ellen Wainwright. To begin we need to go back to the year 1770 when Ellen Wainwright was born and to the year 1787 when at 17 years of age she was tried and found guilty of having stolen a scarlet woollen cloak, a blue stuffed quilted Continue Reading »
John : Hannah Beresford
The Berefords and Undine In December 2004, my husband Peter and I were very fortunate to be able to travel to Tasmania and stay in a bed and breakfast accommodation called Undine Colonial Accommodation. This is just out of Hobart in the suburb of Glenorchy. The right side of Undine, which appears to be the single storey, had been built about 1817 by my ancestors John and Hannah Beresford. The Continue Reading »
Convict Women
The First Woman Ashore Elizabeth Thackery was charged at the Manchester Assizes in 1786 of stealing a silk handkerchief. She was charged with theft and sailed for Botany Bay aboard Friendship with 97 other convicts. During the voyage, Elizabeth contracted several liaisons with various members of the Friendship’s crew. Elizabeth must have had some spirit for she was known as one of the fighting five a group of convict women who fought against their imprisonment at every step of Continue Reading »
Bartholomew Reardon
The Reardon Family Bartholomew Reardon was a shoemaker who lived at Gosport, England. He was married to Katharine Wood on 20 July 1781 at Holy Trinity, Gosport, England. According to the Hampshire Public Records Office Bartholomew had received a stolen hair trunk from a sailor named Carey. Bartholomew and his wife Katherine were charged with having the trunk in their house, knowing it was stolen. He was found guilty at Winchester in Hampshire on 15 July 1783. He was Continue Reading »
Matthew Everingham
On meeting Matthew Everingham During one of Aunty Eunice’s who is related to who talks I discovered I am a direct descendant of a First Fleet convict, Matthew Everingham. To a young teenager’s ears, this was most intriguing. The family story was that Matthew had not returned two books to their rightful owner and there was a hint of forgery somewhere! In 1980, the book Matthew Everingham: A First Fleeter and His Times was written by Valerie Ross – another Everingham descendant and Continue Reading »
