Category Archives: convicts

Breaking into Gaol Records.

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By Jennifer Harrison. Whoever would have thought that the origins of a young servant girl arriving as a free passenger in 1823 would be revealed within the records of Sydney and Darlinghurst Gaol?  The quest for  Hannah Lee’s background commenced with John Daley, an Irish convict, who arrived in Port Jackson on the Brampton, 22 April 1823.  Originating in King’s County/Offaly, the 25-year-old was tried under the Insurrection Act for forcibly stealing arms from John Cooper’s farm, near the Grand … Continue reading

Life and times of John Beale.

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John Beale (or Beal as he was sometimes known), had an interesting life in the early years of the Colony of New South Wales. In many ways, he was no different from any other person in early Australia, but he certainly had an active life. John Beale, the son of Joseph Beale and Rebecca Heppy, was born in Essex in 1783 and baptised at All Saints’ with St Peter, Maldon, Essex on 23 March the same year.[1]  John was the … Continue reading

Learning by extending your research and attending conferences

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I have often commented that I don’t have any Australian family as I migrated from England in the 1970s. For a long time, I restricted my research endeavours to those countries where I had known ancestors – there was more than enough to keep me going. Along the way, however, I’ve discovered that I am not the only member of my extended family to have made that long journey from England to Australia. For instance, one of my paternal grandfather’s … Continue reading

Rosetta Johnson: a strong woman

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by Helen Connor Rosetta (Rose) Johnson – Johnston(e) – was born in County Louth, Ireland in about 1773. Rosetta was convicted at the Surrey Assizes – Lent 24 March 1814 [1] and sentenced to “Let them be transported beyond the seas for seven years.” Rose had stolen 18 yards of sheeting, value of seven shillings, and a shawl, value of 30 shillings, in the parish of St George the Martyr in Southwark, aged 29 years. There is no mention of … Continue reading

Those elusive ancestors – were they convicts?

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I had never considered the possibility of having convicts in my ancestral heritage. I don’t know why it had not occurred to me, considering that the convict story is so much a part of Australia’s early colonial history. I think I naively assumed that if there had been convicts amongst my early ancestors I somehow would have known about them. I would have heard rumours or detected a hint of mystery or noticed veiled silences around certain family stories. However, … Continue reading