Robert Matthews A Real Risk Taker
By Lyn Staite
Robert Matthews [1] was a sailor from the county of East Lothian, in the southeast of Scotland. [2] Nothing is known of his family of origin, or of the circumstances that led him to London. Probably born between 1773 and 1775, he was aged about twenty-nine years at the time of transportation in 1804. [3] Standing 5'9" (without shoes), Robert was taller than the average transported convict. He had a fair-ruddy complexion, light brown hair and hazel eyes. [4]
In the city of London, on 8 February 1803, Robert Matthews 'feloniously' stole a mare valued at £11 from horse-hire stables owned by Thomas Keates. Calling himself Captain Thompson, Matthews gave a good address and agreed to return the horse within an hour and pay the five shillings hire fee. Robert Matthews must have presented well and sounded credible when he explained that he needed to visit someone before he could pay the fee. The horse was not returned. The following day the horse's owner went to the address given, only to find that he had been deceived. Unable to find his mare, Keates notified the police, who found the horse in the stables of the Red Lion. James Goadby, an ostler at the Red Lion, gave evidence that Matthews had approached him with a horse for sale, claiming that he and his brother were cheesemongers, who had come from the lower part of Scotland to settle their debts and avoid bankruptcy. He said they had a warehouse in the Minories. Goadby paid him £6, but became suspicious that the horse had not been come by honestly. When Matthews returned the next Friday with a brown gelding for sale, Goadby offered no more than three guineas because it was very lame. Having instructed a friend to take Matthews to another address, Goadby slipped away to fetch Constable Bly, who came and arrested Matthews. He went with them a little way then swore he would go no further; he swore he would shoot himself. With the assistance of Goadby, the prisoner was forced into a coach and conveyed to Queen-square. [5] He was committed to Newgate Prison. [6]
On 17 February 1803, Robert Matthews was tried by a London jury at the Old Bailey where he was sentenced to death for two like offences-'horse stealing by fraud'. [7] On 21 April, he was pardoned and directed to be transported for life. Consequently, he was delivered to the hulk Prudentiaon the River Thames at Woolwich on 5 October 1803. [8] Robert Matthews was transported on the Coromandelto New South Wales, arriving at Port Jackson, Sydney, on 7 May 1804. [9]
Placed in a position of trust as ship keeper on the Investigator , Robert soon implemented a plan to steal and on-sell items of Government clothing known as 'slops'. This involved removing two nails from a sliding door to the storeroom and replacing them after bales of clothing had been cut open, items removed, then the bales resewn. Bundles of slops were then removed from the ship to be sold on shore or taken on board the Lady Nelson. This involved a chain of people. In all, there appeared to be a deficiency in the stores of '30 duck frocks, 58 pair of duck trowsers, and some cheque shirts' by the time the perpetrators were apprehended. [10]
The plot was discovered and the area put under observation. Sensing something amiss, Robert Matthews sent another member of the group to carry the stolen clothes while he himself escaped under cover of darkness. On 5 August 1804, a 'wanted' notice was published. [11] He was apprehended back on board the Investigatoron the night of Tuesday, 7 August 'in consequence of information received'. [12] Earlier that day, his accomplices had been examined before the magistrates: one receiver of stolen property was sentenced to 100 lashes. A week later, two of the others were sentenced to transportation for fourteen years and Robert Matthews to death. The Judge Advocate declared that Matthews' crime was 'much aggravated by a breach of trust, which none but the most abandoned could possibly have been guilty of', and noted that he had been 'placed in a situation wherein … [he] might have risen in the esteem of the world', yet had preferred a contrary conduct. [13]
The Sydney Gazettereported: 'On Monday morning [20 August 1804] the New South Wales Corps were under arms to attend the Execution of the Criminal condemned on the Tuesday before'. [14] This can only have been Robert Matthews. He had been attended by the Rev. Mr Marsden and allowed the company of a friend during the whole of Sunday night, 'which he passed in a manner highly becoming the awfulness of his situation'. In the morning, Robert was administered the sacrament and:
at the appointed hour he was taken out, and walked to the place of execution, followed by a number of persons of both sexes. Here he devoutly joined in prayer with the Minister; and after being delivered over to the Executioner, … [His Excellency's order] was received by the Provost Marshal to delay the execution, which order was succeeded by a Respite during pleasure. The unhappy man, when commanded to descend from the cart, was convulsed with emotion; to meet death he seemed to be prepared with decent resignation, but so unhoped for an extension of the Royal Mercy was more than he could endure. [15]
It is likely that Robert Matthews was amongst those prisoners, 'remarkable for an unfortunate impropriety of conduct', who were transported on 27 August from the gaol gang in Sydney to the settlement at King's Town, Newcastle. [16] Situated at the mouth of the Hunter River, this new penal settlement was founded in April 1804 when Commandant Charles Throsby was sent there from Sydney with a party of twenty soldiers and the same number of prisoners. Convicts sent to this establishment were those convicted in the Sydney Supreme Court. [17] A week prior to the presumed arrival of Robert Matthews, the settlement had been supplied with more soldiers, a launch and stock, stores, provisions and clothing. [18] At Newcastle, digging coal and felling 'cedars' for export were tasks to which convicts were set to work-in addition to clearing the land, building storerooms and accommodation, fencing in the stock and growing crops. [19]
On about 19 January 1807, several prisoners and a boat were discovered missing. Robert Matthews, five other prisoners (including the female partner of one of the men) and one free man stole an 18 ft keel boat in an attempt to escape from the colony. [20] The Sydney Gazetteclaimed they were 'miserably provided for carrying such a determination into effect with any other prospect than that of perishing on the coast'. [21] Within eight miles of the settlement, they encountered difficulties, 'and designed beaching their boat', having first thrown overboard their provisions, a compass and other items they had provided for their 'ridiculous enterprize'. They had not thrown away the valuable musket they had stolen. A shepherd spotted the boat and alerted the commandant who sent two armed whaleboats in pursuit. When the prisoners failed to respond to signals, they were threatened with being fired upon. They surrendered and were captured. [22]
Six convicts and the free man were returned to Sydney, where they were indicted for stealing a boat and a mast, sail and oars. [23] Remarkably, all were acquitted of that charge, but the convicts were held in custody as prisoners who had attempted to escape from the colony and the free man for a breach of orders. [24] Robert Matthews was transported to Norfolk Island on the Lady Nelson , departing on 3 March 1807 and arriving on 13 March. [25] Having been banished from the colony of New South Wales, he was committed to Captain Piper's charge on Norfolk Island. [26]
It seems that Robert Matthews did not re-offend. He was not kept away from boats: his name was referred to in September 1808 as a member of the Norfolk Island boat crew. [27] By 1811, he was considered to be the husband of Hannah Edge, [28] youngest daughter of Norfolk Island's former provost marshal, Fane Edge. Orphaned, and in need of the protection and support of a husband, Hannah was then aged sixteen. [29]
Originally founded by the British in March 1788, just two months after New South Wales, the tiny penal settlement of Norfolk Island (approximately 1670 kilometres east-north-east of Sydney and 2400 kilometres north-east of Hobart) was established as a strategic naval base to exclude unfriendly nations who might use it for military or trading purposes. [30] Before long, it was realised that this settlement was expensive to maintain and had no safe harbour. [31] Timber and flax resources were unsuitable for their intended purposes of shipbuilding and sail making, and crops were unreliable. Nevertheless, as a result of hard work by the convicts, the island contributed to the support of its inhabitants and exported some products to the mainland of New South Wales. In both places, starvation was a very real danger. As early as 1803, it was decided that the settlement at Norfolk Island was uneconomic and should be abandoned in favour of settling Van Diemen's Land. [32] Consequently, over a period of time-beginning in 1805-the island's inhabitants were transported in groups from Norfolk Island to Van Diemen's Land to begin anew the backbreaking work of clearing the land and building new homes, farms and livelihoods. Few Norfolk Islanders were willing to leave behind all they had worked for-the promised compensation was often inadequate and land grants and free convict labour did not instantlyproduce food and accommodation. Some former Norfolk Islanders were billeted with other families, sometimes for years. [33]
Prior to their removal from Norfolk Island, residents with stock, wheat and maize, furniture and equipment had these items recorded and turned over to the government. Hannah Matthews was on a list of persons entitled to payment in kind at Port Dalrymple (now George Town), Van Diemen's Land. [34] Stock detailed under Hannah's name, at Sydney, was fifteen wethers and twenty ewes, full-grown. The only items of furniture listed were two stools, two chairs and one cupboard. In total, these items were valued at £2 13s 0d. [35] On 18 February 1813, Hannah Matthews and her brother Fane Edge were in a group that departed Norfolk Island on the Minstrel's second voyagefor Port Dalrymple. [36] One wonders what accommodation and essential services were available to the new arrivals in an unfamiliar environment. It is not known how long Hannah remained there before sailing to Sydney to await her husband's return from Norfolk Island. She did not have the company of her sailor brother for long-he died at sea in September 1813 and was buried in Sydney. [37]
Robert and Hannah were apart for at least a year while Robert remained on Norfolk Island. As a member of the 1813 'clean-up party', Robert was assigned to the boat crew on the Kangaroo. [38] Only the best-behaved convicts were chosen for this task, and these were rewarded with conditional pardons. [39] Robert's pardon was granted on 10 June 1813, followed by an absolute pardon on 31 January 1814. [40] On the departure of the Minstrel, the settlement at Norfolk Island was abandoned by all inhabitants other than members of the clean-up party-they were left behind to remove resources and then destroy the remaining infrastructure. On completion of that task, the superintendent declared that 'there remains no inducement for human beings of any kind to visit that place'. [41] The island was not resettled until 1825, when its very isolation was a feature of a new, harsher penitentiary system.
In February 1814, Robert Matthews and the rest of the clean-up party departed Norfolk Island on the Kangaroo,arriving in Port Jackson on 10 March. [42] At some time before October/November 1814, Hannah joined Robert in Sydney, where he was a seaman on the brig Endeavour. [43] On 30 June 1814, the name of Robert Matthews was on a list of former Norfolk Islanders to receive a land grant-in his case, a grant of 50 acres was recommended by Mr Broughton. [44] Robert and Hannah were still living in Sydney when their first daughter, Margaret, my great-great-grandmother, was born on 24 January 1816. [45] As a seaman, perhaps Robert's arrival in Van Diemen's Land was not recorded. Hannah and sixteen-month-old Margaret arrived at Port Dalrymple on the Governor Macquarieon 9 April 1817. [46]
On 14 November 1818, a second daughter, Jane, was born. Margaret and Jane were baptised at St John's Church in Launceston on 18 January 1819. [47] In October of that year, Robert had 30 acres of rented land in wheat, 2 cows, 85 sheep and 35 bushels of wheat in hand. Robert, Hannah and their two children received government supplies of food; they had to provide for their government servant. [48] In February 1820, Robert was named as having three prisoners in his employ. [49] In the 1820 land and stock muster at Port Dalrymple, Robert 'Mathews' is recorded as having two servants. His grant of land by Governor Macquarie comprised 20 acres in wheat and 32 in pastures, with a total of 60 acres. Stock consisted of 2 cows, 15 male sheep and 20 ewes. Robert, his wife and children, and two servants were by then self-victualled. [50]
Robert was named as a district constable in December 1819 and, on 27 April 1820, Robert Matthews of Norfolk Plains was on a nominal list of town constables and district constables doing duty at Launceston. [51] In July of that year, he was required to travel to Sydney to give evidence before a criminal court. [52] In September, he was listed as 'Matchem' in correspondence about payment of the passage money from Port Dalrymple on the Governor Macquarie. [53]
On 3 June 1821, a third daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, was born to Hannah and Robert. [54] She was baptised at St John's in Launceston on 4 August 1821. A fourth daughter, Hannah, was born on 3 April 1823. [55]
In 1822, Robert 'Mathews' was resident on his sixty-acre farm. In that year, he had 30 acres in wheat, ½ acre in potatoes, ¾ acre in garden or orchard, and 40 acres of cleared ground. He had 5 horned cattle and 15 bushels of wheat in hand. [56] On 30 June 1823, Sir Thomas Brisbane granted Robert 40 acres at Norfolk Plains. Conditions for retaining this land grant stipulated that the property could not be sold within the first five years, and that within this period, an area of 12 acres must be cleared and under cultivation. [57]
It seems that Robert preferred the life of a sailor to making a living on the land. Whereas a farmer's income fluctuated according to the vagaries of both the weather and the markets, a salaried position at sea was more desirable in terms of income stability and his original occupation. Because there was more than one Robert Matthews, it is difficult to determine when Robert first returned to sea. He might or might not be the Robert Matthews who was the captain's steward on the Royal George in 1822 or a steward on the Henry in 1823. [58]
On hearing that Norfolk Island might once again be settled, Robert wrote to the Colonial Secretary's Office, requesting his old position of beach master and pilot at Norfolk Island if the island was to be resettled. He wrote that he preferred that island to Van Diemen's Land for his future residence and that such a position would enable him to support his family. [59] The reply, dated 25 March 1825, stated that his claim would be considered. [60] That year, Robert Matthews did get to return to the sea-but not to Norfolk Island. The family might have moved then to Hobart, where Robert was based for his appointment as master of the Maria, a new colonial government cutter used for supplying Maria Island with stores. [61]
Robert's return to the sea was not uneventful, as the Hobart Town Gazette reported on 3 December 1825:
The news of another very audacious and successful attempt - the seizure of the Maria cutter, with provisions for Maria Island, arrived in Town on Wednesday. Mr. Robert Mathews, master of this vessel, set sail from Hobart Town at two o'clock in the morning of Friday the 25 th ultimo. He had on board 42 barrels and 46 bags of English flour, 22 casks of pork, a ton and a half of sugar, and 4 bags of maize. His crew consisted of William Aldridge, a free man, Angus Ferguson holding a ticket of leave, Henry Leonard, and John Bogles, prisoners. About four o'clock, Aldridge and Ferguson being on watch, and the vessel having got down below Brown's River, Mr. Mathews heard a scuffle on deck, and found himself fastened down. In the course of ten minutes the companion door was opened, and Leonard, brandishing a sword, warned him on pain of death to make no resistance. He then saw three others who must have been secreted among the goods till that time, namely, James Young, Richard Williams, and another whose name is not yet known. -
They said the vessel was theirs, and ordered him into the forecastle, where he, Aldridge, and Ferguson, were kept shut in until they begged for air, and were liberated about six, when the vessel was off Cape Basaltes. [62] Leonard was at the helm. They asked him [Robert Matthews] to accompany them, and, on his refusal, put him into the boat with Ferguson, and landed them. Aldridge, who was wounded in the thigh in the scuffle, was not allowed to quit the vessel, and they would not give up his [Matthews'?] clothes to Mr Matthews, giving them only four biscuits, and a piece of beef. They then made sail to the South West, and were seen next day between Wedge Island and the Main, wind bound. Mr Matthews and Ferguson, arrived in town in a most exhausted state. [63]
Taking up to six days, Robert Matthews and Ferguson must have had an arduous trek up to Hobart from such an isolated extremity of the peninsula. They probably headed for Nubeena on Wedge Bay, as the semaphore stations and the penal establishment at Port Arthur did not then exist. They would have encountered settlers further on, and probably obtained food to sustain them on their journey. When news of the piracy reached Hobart Town, Captain Welsh in the Duke of York was sent in hot pursuit of the vessel. [64] He found other runaway convicts, but not the Maria. It was fortunate that Robert Matthews was not appointed master of the newly-built replacement vessel Despatch-in late March 1826, this schooner was lost in a gale off Cape Pillar. [65]
When a survey of children was taken in about April 1828, the five Matthews daughters were recorded as residing in Collins Street, Hobart. The record also shows that they had parents of good character. [66] A month later, the family's fortunes changed forever when Robert died at Swanport where he had been employed to superintend the building of a vessel belonging to Mr Meredith. [67] This was probably the schoonerBlack Swanthat was lost on Prime Seal Island in 1829. [68]
Robert's widow, Hannah, was then in dire financial straits as her husband left no property. [69] By abandoning the land grant within two years, the forty-acre property at Norfolk Plains would have been forfeited. [70] It is uncertain what happened with the sixty-acre farm. [71] Hannah then had to earn her living by working and was 'wholly unable' to support the family. On 12 June 1828, it was decided that two of the children-Jane and Sarah-were to be admitted to the King's Orphanage and 'the two other eldest children' were to be maintained by families in the island. [72] As Margaret and Jane were the oldest two, and no record has been found that Jane and Sarah were actually admitted to the orphanage, there is some doubt about who went where. Hannah had her youngest two children-Hannah and Elizabeth-baptised at Hobart Town on 4 August 1828. [73] Elizabeth had been born in Hobart on 2 January that year. [74]
Hannah Matthews became desperate for money. On 1December 1828, she requested that she be paid £10 14s 0d, the remainder of her late husband's wages, and 'some small remuneration' for articles lost on the Maria.This request was refused. [75] Hannah's situation must have become even more difficult when, a year later on 22 November 1829, she gave birth to another daughter, Charlotte Eleanor, whose paternity is unknown. Charlotte's birth might have been the result of a consenting or non-consenting act-or even one of financial necessity. However, when Charlotte was baptised on 16 December 1834 in the Parish of Trinity, Hobart, her father was named as Robert Matthews, master mariner. [76] Nothing further has been discovered about this child. Similarly, the fate of Sarah Elizabeth is unknown. On 21 February 1835, Hannah (eleven) and Elizabeth (nearly eight) were admitted into the Queen's Orphan School. [77] They were discharged on 22 December 1838 to the care of their married sisters, Margaret Smith and Jane McArthur. [78]
On 23 November 1836, the free-born widow Hannah Matthews married Thomas Denham, a convict much younger than herself. [79] Their daughter, and four of Hannah and Robert's daughters, produced numerous descendants to further populate the island of Van Diemen's Land.
Acknowledgement
This article was written with the encouragement of Colleen Read, who did the majority of the research and shared it with the author.
[1] Spelled with one or two 't's, also Matthies and Matchem.
[2] SRNSW, Reel 800, p.51, Registers of absolute pardons.
[3] In Old Bailey Quarter Sessions, third session, 1803, C. Price, Esq., Mayor, p.170, his age is given as 30. However, in AJCP, HO 26/9, Reel No. 2732, p.80, Criminal registers series, offenders for Middlesex, February sessions, 1803 and SRNSW, Reel 800, p.51, his age is recorded as twenty-nine years.
[4] SRNSW, Reel 800, p.51.
[5] Old Bailey Quarter Sessions, third session, 1803, pp.168-170.
[6] AJCP, HO 26/9, Reel No. 2732, p.80.
[7] Old Bailey Quarter Sessions, third session, 1803, p.170.
[8] AJCP, HO 26/9, Reel No. 2732, p.80.
[9] SRNSW, AO Fiche No. 631 (4/4004), pp.173 and 182, Bound indents, 1801-1814; SRNSW, AO Fiche No. 821 (4/4430), p.70, Register of conditional pardons, 1791-1825; SRNSW, Reel 800, p.51.
[10] Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 12 August 1804, p.4 col. 1-2; 19 August 1804, p.2, col. 1-2.
[11] Sydney Gazette, 5 August 1804, p.1, col. 2; SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Reel 6037, SZ992, p.9, Government and general orders.
[12] Sydney Gazette, 12 August 1804, p.4, col. 1-2.
[13] Sydney Gazette, 19 August 1804, p.3, col. 1-2.
[14] Sydney Gazette, 26 August 1804, p.3, col. 1.
[15] Sydney Gazette, 26 August 1804, p.3, col. 1.
[16] Sydney Gazette, 2 September 1804, p.2, col. 2. Not to be confused with Kingston, Norfolk Island. Originally named King's Town, Newcastle was the name used by the free settlers because of the similarity of the river to the Tyne on which the English city Newcastle is situated: J. Windross & J.P. Ralston, Historical Records of Newcastle, 1797-1897 , Library of Australian History, North Sydney, facsimile reprint 1978, pp.8-9.
[17] Windross & Ralston, pp.8-9.
[18] Sydney Gazette, 26 August 1804, p.3, col. 3.
[19] Windross & Ralston, p.8. The coal was 'of a very good sort, and lying so near to the waterside as to be conveniently shipped'.
[20] Sydney Gazette, 25 January 1807, p.1, col. 1.
[21] Sydney Gazette, 25 January 1807, p.1, col. 3.
[22] Sydney Gazette, 1 February 1807, p.1, col. 2-3; J.S. Cumpston, Shipping Arrivals & Departures, Sydney, 1788-1825 , Roebuck Society, Canberra, 1977, part I, p.60; part II, Index to ships and vessels, pp.4-50.
[23] Sydney Gazette, 15 February 1807, p.2, col. 1.
[24] Sydney Gazette, 29 March 1807, p.2, col. 1.
[25] Raymond Nobbs (ed.), Norfolk Island and its first settlement, 1788-1814 , Library of Australian History, North Sydney 1988, p.220.
[26] SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Reel 6040, ML Safe 1/51, p.119, Bligh and others: Letters.
[27] Reg Wright, The Forgotten Generation of Norfolk Island and Van Diemens Land , Library of Australian History, Sydney, 1986, p.104.
[28] Carol J. Baxter (ed.), General Musters of New South Wales, Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land, 1811, ABGR & Society of Australian Genealogists, Sydney, 1987, p.84. Hannah's surname is given as Matthews; Wright, p.51. This is not proof of a registered marriage. Between April 1810 and August 1812, the accepted husband's name was given in Victualling Books irrespective of whether a legal marriage had been performed. For long periods, there was no minister of religion available on Norfolk Island.
[29] Wright,p.167, Hannah Edge was recorded in a list of children above ten years, orphans on the stores; AONSW, Reel 5001, Vol. 1A, No. 1594; AONSW, Reel 5002, Vol. 4A, No. 126: Hannah Edge born 8 March 1795, Norfolk Island; baptised 27 March 1806, entered in St Philip's register, Sydney.
[30] Wright, pp.2-5.
[31] Wright, pp.4-5.
[32] Wright, pp.4-5.
[33] Wright, chapter 11.
[34] SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Reel 6020, 4/6977A, p.32.
[35] SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Reel 6020, 4/6977A, p.10.
[36] AOT, CSO 1/177/4306, p.223.
[37] AONSW, Reel 5001, Vol. 1, pp.161-162: NSW, Church of England, Register of baptisms, burials and marriages.
[38] Wright, p.141.
[39] Wright, p.136.
[40] SRNSW, AO Fiche No. 821, p.70; SRNSW, AO Fiche, No. 631, p.182; SRNSW, Reel 800, p.51, No. 299.
[41] Wright, p.140.
[42] Wright, p.139.
[43] Carol J. Baxter (ed.), General Muster of NSW, 1814, ABGR, in association with the Society of Australian Genealogists, North Sydney, 1987, p.113, No. 5024; p.150, No. 6699.
[44] SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Fiche 3266, 9/2652, p.17, No. 75: Returns of free settlers and other free persons to receive land grants, 1811-1825.
[45] AOT, NS 373/5 (film damaged: see AOT General Index, people).
[46] SRNSW, Reel 561, p 29: Passengers, NSW-VDL 1816-1822.
[47] AOT, NS 373/5.
[48] AOT, MM1, pp.321-322: (Mitchell Library, VDL papers) General muster of the proprietors of land and stock at Port Dalrymple, 11-15 October 1819. However, earlier in the same document series, referring to the same date, there is an inconsistency: on p.308 Ann [Hannah] Mathews, wife No. 48, is recorded as being 'off the stores'.
[49] HRA, Series III, Vol. III, p.722.
[50] ML, VDL Books, 1818-1822 (4/1235), Muster of land and stock, 1820, Port Dalrymple, Van Diemen's Land, pp.183-184, [Book, on spine-1820 Landholders muster, Cornwall].
[51] HRA, Series III, Vol. III, p.733; HRA, Series III, Vol. III, p.739.
[52] SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Reel 6007, 4/3502, p.134, Letters .
[53] SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Reel 6007; 4/3502, pp.289-90.
[54] AOT, RGD 32/1 1828 (Hobart) No. 2638.
[55] AOT, RGD 32/1 1828 (Hobart) No. 2639.
[56] ML, VDL Books, 1818-1822 (4/1235), Port Dalrymple Van Diemen's Land, 31 October to 11 November 1822, pp.2-3, [Book, on spine-1822 Landholders muster, Cornwall].
[57] SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Reel 6007, 4/3502, pp.289-90.
[58] Crowther port certificate book LII p.202 (now CUS 33/3); SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Reel 6059, 4/1772, p.141; SRNSW Colonial Secretary, Reel 6011, 4/3509, p.291.
[59] SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Reel 6063, 4/1785, p.111.
[60] SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Reel 6014, 4/3513, p.642; SRNSW, Colonial Secretary, Reel 6007, 4/3522, p.129.
[61] Ian H. Nicholson, Shipping arrivals and departures, Tasmania, volume I, 1803-1833, parts I, II and III, a Roebuck Book, Canberra, 1983, p.109.
[62]
AOT, NS 499/3791, map circa 1850. Cape Basaltes is on the most
southerly tip of Tasman Peninsula.
This was the name given by Flinders; it is now called Cape Raoul,
the name given by D'Entrecasteaux.
[63] Hobart Town Gazette,3 December 1825, p.2, col. 4. This account is largely compatible with a brief article in the Colonial Times, 2 December 1825, p.3, col. 2, which records a later departure time and date-Sunday afternoon, 27 November-and Cape Pillar, on the south-eastern tip of Tasman Peninsula, as the location near which the pirates put Matthews and Aldridge ashore.
[64] Presumably, Matthews and Aldridge arrived in Hobart Town on Wednesday, 3December 1825.
[65] Nicholson, p.114.
[66] AOT, CSO 1/918, p.49. The survey began in 1827. The April 1828 date is based on Elizabeth's age as stated in months.
[67] The Tasmanian,23 May 1828, p.2, col. 4; AOT, SWD 24, p.36. Death and burial registrations have not been found. Here he is called Captain Matthies.
[68] The Tasmanian,23 May 1828, p.2, col. 4. For Meredith, see Harry O'May (comp.), Wooden hookers of Hobart Town, T.J. Hughes, Government Printer, Tasmania, 1978, p.26.
[69] AOT, SWD 24, p.36.
[70] AOT, LSD 354/6, p.90.
[71] The name of Robert Matthews is listed only once in the index to early land grants.
[72] AOT, SWD 24, p.36.
[73] AOT, RGD 32/1 1828 (Hobart) No. 2638 and No. 2639.
[74] AOT, RGD 32/1 1828 (Hobart) No. 2639.
[75] AOT, CSO 1/295/7165, pp.172-178.
[76] AOT, RGD 32/2 1834 (Hobart) No. 5510. Had Charlotte Eleanor's birth year been 1828, she could have been Robert Matthews' daughter.
[77] AOT, CSO 5/93/2074, pp.60-61, Nos. 317, 318; AOT, CSO 5/86/1885, pp.118-119, Nos. 317, 318. Elizabeth, born 2 January 1828, could not have been nine years old as recorded here.
[78] AOT, SWD 28/1, p.6, Nos. 196, 197.
[79] AOT, NS 432/1, 1836, St George's, Sorell, p.36, No. 150; AOT, RGD 36/3 1836 (Sorell) No. 3544.
This story was originally published in 2004 by the Writers Group of the Hobart Branch of the TFHS Inc. in the publication PROS and Cons of Transportation A collection of convict stories.
Not only does this publication celebrate the cessation of transportation of convicts to Van Diemens Land, it also celebrates the work of the Family History Writers Group. This group was formed in 2003 to assist members who wanted to write their family histories. The monthly meetings stimulated great interest and enthusiasm.
The original introduction may be found here.