Esther managed to survive the appalling conditions of Newgate Prison[1] for 18 months or so until she and about 130 other female convicts sailed from England on the “Indispensable”[2] in October 1795. This was one of the many ships taking convicts to settle the penal colony in Australia between 1788 and 1853 when convict transports finally stopped. The “Indispensable” arrived in Port Jackson[3] on 30 April 1796.
Sydney Cove was a very good place to start a convict settlement as escape was difficult. There was a mountain range to the west that was just like a goal wall. From a distance the mountains looked blue in colour and were soon called the Blue Mountains.
Once again nothing is known about the specifics of Esther’s early days in the fledgling colony, though one source maintains she was given a grant of land in Phillip Street in 1797 by Governor Hunter. If so, she may have escaped the fate of many of the female convicts who had no option but to take up prostitution. With land she had the means to create an income, and did so by building and running a boarding house. This would have given her a significant degree of economic security. Phillip Street is now one of the busiest major thoroughfares in the Sydney CBD.
Within a year of arriving in the colony Esther had her first (recorded) child. The father of the child was John FITZ, who had been tried at the Old Bailey in 1788 for petty larceny.
John may have arrived in Port Jackson in 1792, on the “Royal Admiral”. There is also some evidence that he arrived on the “Active” in 1791[4]. The Active was one of 11 ships of the Third Fleet. The confusion as to the facts of John’s arrival can be attributed to John’s name which was relatively common. Fitz could have been a shortened version of Fitzgerald, or one of the other many variants applied to Fitz. His first name too is very common, so without additional information it is impossible to establish who he actually was among several possible variants on passenger lists.
The First, Second and Third Fleets were groups of ships contracted by the English government to deliver convicts to Australia to establish a new colony. The First Fleet (11 ships, 736 convicts, 17 convicts' children, 211 marines, 27 marines' wives, 14 marines' children and about 300 officers and others under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip) arrived in Botany Bay in January 1788.
While the settlers were reasonably well-equipped, little consideration had been given to the skills required to make the colony self-supporting – few of the first wave convicts had farming or trade experience (nor the soldiers), and the lack of understanding of Australia's seasonal patterns saw initial attempts at farming fail, leaving only what animals and birds the soldiers were able to shoot. The colony nearly starved, and Phillip was forced to send a ship to Batavia (Jakarta) for supplies.
As a result, during the first years of settlement immense hardships were suffered by the first arrivals. Early efforts at agriculture were fraught and supplies from overseas were few and far between. Most of the settlers lacked the skills required for establishing a colony. Many new arrivals were also sick or unfit for work and the conditions of healthy convicts only deteriorated with hard labour and poor sustenance. The food situation reached crisis point in 1790, relieved somewhat with the arrival of the Second Fleet in June.
Marriage between male and female convicts and raising a family was encouraged because of the British government’s intentions of developing a free colony rather than have it remain as a penal settlement. John and Esther’s union therefore would have been accepted in policy terms. Whether there was any formal “marriage” is unknown, and is somewhat unlikely, given Esther’s claim to already be married.
Whatever the nature of the union between Esther and John, formal or otherwise, on 23 July 1797 Esther and John had a daughter whom they called Susannah.
Eighteen months later on 28 December 1798 Esther had another daughter, this time by a man called Michael Watson. The baptism records for St Phillips Church show the details, naming both parents as well as the child. Esther called this daughter Susannah as well, which is puzzling. It was not uncommon at the time for a later child to be given the name of an earlier child who had died, but there are records which show that the older Susannah lived to adulthood, and married. No further information has been uncovered about Michael Watson or his daughter Susannah so far.
Only one year later on 29 December 1799 Esther had a son with John Fitz, and he was named John Clark Fitz. The baby boy lived only three days, dying on 1 January 1800. This was not an auspicious way to start a new century for Esther. The infant was buried in the Old Sydney Burial Ground, which was located where Sydney Town Hall now stands.
John Fitz then seems to have disappeared from Esther’s life, along with Michael Watson. Whether they simply moved on, died, or took up with someone else has never been ascertained. Perhaps it was Esther who moved on, as less than 18 months after burying her infant son Esther had another child, but this time the father was a man called Thomas STUBBS.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newgate_Prison.
The Old Bailey now occupies the site of Newgate Prison.
[2] a sailing ship built in France and launched in 1791.
[3] As Sydney was known at the time
[4] According to Rosemary Adams’s work, John Fitz arrived on the “Active”, in the 3rd Fleet, 1791. She searched primary sources.
Sydney Cove was a very good place to start a convict settlement as escape was difficult. There was a mountain range to the west that was just like a goal wall. From a distance the mountains looked blue in colour and were soon called the Blue Mountains.
Once again nothing is known about the specifics of Esther’s early days in the fledgling colony, though one source maintains she was given a grant of land in Phillip Street in 1797 by Governor Hunter. If so, she may have escaped the fate of many of the female convicts who had no option but to take up prostitution. With land she had the means to create an income, and did so by building and running a boarding house. This would have given her a significant degree of economic security. Phillip Street is now one of the busiest major thoroughfares in the Sydney CBD.
Within a year of arriving in the colony Esther had her first (recorded) child. The father of the child was John FITZ, who had been tried at the Old Bailey in 1788 for petty larceny.
John may have arrived in Port Jackson in 1792, on the “Royal Admiral”. There is also some evidence that he arrived on the “Active” in 1791[4]. The Active was one of 11 ships of the Third Fleet. The confusion as to the facts of John’s arrival can be attributed to John’s name which was relatively common. Fitz could have been a shortened version of Fitzgerald, or one of the other many variants applied to Fitz. His first name too is very common, so without additional information it is impossible to establish who he actually was among several possible variants on passenger lists.
The First, Second and Third Fleets were groups of ships contracted by the English government to deliver convicts to Australia to establish a new colony. The First Fleet (11 ships, 736 convicts, 17 convicts' children, 211 marines, 27 marines' wives, 14 marines' children and about 300 officers and others under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip) arrived in Botany Bay in January 1788.
While the settlers were reasonably well-equipped, little consideration had been given to the skills required to make the colony self-supporting – few of the first wave convicts had farming or trade experience (nor the soldiers), and the lack of understanding of Australia's seasonal patterns saw initial attempts at farming fail, leaving only what animals and birds the soldiers were able to shoot. The colony nearly starved, and Phillip was forced to send a ship to Batavia (Jakarta) for supplies.
As a result, during the first years of settlement immense hardships were suffered by the first arrivals. Early efforts at agriculture were fraught and supplies from overseas were few and far between. Most of the settlers lacked the skills required for establishing a colony. Many new arrivals were also sick or unfit for work and the conditions of healthy convicts only deteriorated with hard labour and poor sustenance. The food situation reached crisis point in 1790, relieved somewhat with the arrival of the Second Fleet in June.
Marriage between male and female convicts and raising a family was encouraged because of the British government’s intentions of developing a free colony rather than have it remain as a penal settlement. John and Esther’s union therefore would have been accepted in policy terms. Whether there was any formal “marriage” is unknown, and is somewhat unlikely, given Esther’s claim to already be married.
Whatever the nature of the union between Esther and John, formal or otherwise, on 23 July 1797 Esther and John had a daughter whom they called Susannah.
Eighteen months later on 28 December 1798 Esther had another daughter, this time by a man called Michael Watson. The baptism records for St Phillips Church show the details, naming both parents as well as the child. Esther called this daughter Susannah as well, which is puzzling. It was not uncommon at the time for a later child to be given the name of an earlier child who had died, but there are records which show that the older Susannah lived to adulthood, and married. No further information has been uncovered about Michael Watson or his daughter Susannah so far.
Only one year later on 29 December 1799 Esther had a son with John Fitz, and he was named John Clark Fitz. The baby boy lived only three days, dying on 1 January 1800. This was not an auspicious way to start a new century for Esther. The infant was buried in the Old Sydney Burial Ground, which was located where Sydney Town Hall now stands.
John Fitz then seems to have disappeared from Esther’s life, along with Michael Watson. Whether they simply moved on, died, or took up with someone else has never been ascertained. Perhaps it was Esther who moved on, as less than 18 months after burying her infant son Esther had another child, but this time the father was a man called Thomas STUBBS.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newgate_Prison.
The Old Bailey now occupies the site of Newgate Prison.
[2] a sailing ship built in France and launched in 1791.
[3] As Sydney was known at the time
[4] According to Rosemary Adams’s work, John Fitz arrived on the “Active”, in the 3rd Fleet, 1791. She searched primary sources.