Category Archives: convicts

Irish Prison Hulks.

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By Meg Carney. My great great grandfather Owen Connor was an Irish convict who arrived in Australia on the St. Vincent on 05 January 1837. He had been sentenced in August 1836 at the Galway Summer Assizes to transportation for life for stealing a heifer. After sentencing he was detained on board a hulk awaiting transportation[1]. The St. Vincent departed from Cork Harbour on 13 September 1836 and on board were 120 prisoners from the Essex hulk, moored in Kingstown … Continue reading

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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By Helen Connor: 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] … 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