Julia was born circa 1805 in Cork, Ireland-her parents are unknown. Some time prior to September 1825, she moved from Ireland to live in London, England. Many Irish residents moved to London in the hope of finding work. It would seem that Julia had difficulty finding work, as at the time of her transportable offence, Julia was living on the town, working as a common prostitute.

Julia was described in her convict records at the time of her transportation as being single, a servant of all work who could wash, cook and work at her needle. She was 5'3¾" tall, slightly pock-pitted, with dark brown hair, dark grey eyes, a seam on her upper lip and under her nose, and scars on her forehead. Thus, it is likely that Julia had been in a few scraps during her short life of nineteen years. Julia was illiterate, indicated by her making her mark [x] as her signature on her marriage certificate.

Julia was tried in London on 15 September 1825, aged nineteen years, for stealing eleven shillings and six pence from the person, and was sentenced to fourteen years transportation. It is likely that this money was stolen from a 'client'.

Julia was transported on the Providence II on its second voyage to Van Diemen's Land. Her gaol report listed her conduct as 'good', though it noted she had been a prostitute. The ship's surgeon, Matthew Burnside, commented:

The countenance of the person whose character I am about to give will, I have no doubt, be an evincing proof what lenity ought to be granted her by the Government of the Colony. She is a notorious strumpet and a most dangerous girl. The trouble which she gave me is unaccountable. Repeatedly I have been obliged to put her into irons and confined her in the Coal-Hold. Hard labour or solitary confinement ought to be assigned her.

It is these comments about Julia by the ship's surgeon which inspired the title for Phillip Tardif's book, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls , published in 1990.

However, it must be noted that this same surgeon cohabited with one of the female prisoners during the voyage, and held drinking parties in his cabin inviting other female prisoners and ship's crew, including the captain, John Wauchope. One wonders what Julia did to offend the surgeon.

The Providence IIwas a ship of 380 tons, built at Lynn in 1812, which sailed as a convict transport to Tasmania in 1821 and 1826. On its second voyage, when Julia was on board, Providence II departed The Downs, at the mouth of the Thames River, on 24 December 1825, carrying 100 female convicts. It disembarked ninety-nine of these convicts at Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land, 143 days later, on 16 May 1826, after sailing via Tenerife.

After initially being assigned to a female factory, [1] Julia was assigned to various masters and, at times, was returned to the Factory at George Town or the House of Correction at Launceston. Her assignments can be determined in some degree from the names of the prosecutors for her twenty-four offences. Most of these twenty-four offences for which Julia was charged between 1826 and 1838 were related to drunkenness. It would seem she liked a drink or two!

On 3 August 1826, less than three months after her arrival in Van Diemen's Land, Julia was charged with being drunk and disorderly, and was sentenced to be confined on bread and water for one month. The charge was brought by Peter Lette, who owned a large property at White Hills called Curraghmore.Julia would have been assigned to him as a domestic servant. Her sentence of confinement most likely would have been carried out at the Female Factory at George Town.

Only a week after her release from confinement on 10 September 1826, having been assigned to W.H. Browne, the Anglican minister for the parish of St John's in Launceston, Julia was charged with being drunk and out after hours, having been drunk and in the kitchen of Mr Thomson [?] at 11 o'clock last night (Sunday). She was sentenced to be placed in the stocks for two hours. Julia obviously didn't take well to this punishment, because, on the next day, 11 September 1826, Julia was charged with absconding from her master's service. She was sentenced to be sent to the Factory at George Town, where she was to be kept on bread and water for fourteen days, and afterwards to be detained for three months.

Julia then seemed to keep out of trouble for eight months before being charged by her master, G. Coulson, with being drunk and disorderly on 14 May 1827. Once again, she was ordered to be placed in the stocks for two hours. Julia must have remained in the service of G. Coulson for the next six months, as, on 24 November 1827, she was charged by Coulson with disobedience of orders and drunkenness. That spelt the end of her service to Coulson because she was ordered to be sent to the factory for six months.

Just under a year later, Julia, who at the time was assigned to J.W. Gleadow, a lawyer of Launceston, was charged with absenting herself from her master's service on 28 September 1828. She was sentenced to be held in a cell and fed on bread and water for seven days. One month later, on 28 October 1828, J.W. Gleadow charged Julia with repeated drunkenness; she was sentenced to be sent back to the factory for six months.

Just over three months later, whilst being held in the George Town Factory, Julia was charged with riotous and disorderly conduct in the sleeping rooms in the ward of the Female House of Correction and making use of violent and infamous language on Sunday night, 8 February 1829. It is likely that other inmates were similarly charged. Julia was sentenced to solitary confinement for four days.

Over a year later, when assigned to Mr Graham, Julia was charged with being drunk in her master's house on 18 April 1831. She was sentenced to be confined in a cell and fed on bread and water for fourteen days, then returned to her master's service. About one month later, on 26 May 1831, Julia was charged with being insolent to her mistress, Mrs Graham. This time she was sentenced to be sent to the House of Correction for assignment to the interior. [2]

Less than three months after being assigned to the interior, on 11 August 1831, Julia was charged with being out after hours by her master, Mr Midwood. She was sentenced to be confined in a cell and fed on bread and water for seven days and then returned to her master's service. However, she must have been reassigned or loaned to Mr Barrett some time before 27 March 1832, when she was charged by him with being drunk on Sunday and absent without leave. Her sentence this time was to be confined in a cell and fed on bread and water for three days.

It is likely that Julia was reassigned after this confinement because, about two weeks later, she was charged by Mr Chapman with being drunk on the night of 10 April 1832. She was sentenced to be demoted to second class [3] and assigned to the interior.

Whilst assigned to the interior, Julia must have met George McNish, whom she applied for permission to marry on 13 August 1832. George McNish was free. However, the Governor did not give his approval for this marriage.

Not long after receiving notification that the planned marriage was not approved, on 19 September 1832, whilst assigned to Thomas Marriott, Julia was charged with being drunk and abusing her mistress. For this offence, she spent ten days in solitary confine­ment, fed on bread and water. About a week after her release, on 6 October 1832, still in the service of Thomas Marriott, Julia was charged with repeated drunkenness and being absent from her master's house at night. As a consequence, Julia was returned to the Government and sent to the George Town Female Factory for three months, and it was recommended that Thomas Marriott not have any more female servants. It can only be wondered why this stipulation was made.

On 16 March 1833, five months after being returned to the Factory, Julia, whilst on loan to Charles Johnson, was charged with being absent without leave. She was sentenced to another two months at the George Town Female Factory.

Seven months later, whilst in the service of H.E. Robson Esquire, Julia was charged on 9 October 1833 with being absent from her master's premises without leave and being drunk and in bed with Policeman Gilmore at his hut. For this offence, Julia was only severely admonished. It is likely that Policeman Gilmore was a ticket-of-leave holder or emancipated convict, and lost his job over the incident.

Only two months later, on 16 December 1833, Julia was charged with being absent without leave from her master, P. Carolan. She was sentenced to ten days solitary confinement, to be fed on bread and water. This was to become a familiar punishment to Julia over the next six months.

Three months later, on 12 March 1834, whilst assigned to George Collins, Julia was charged with being absent without leave, and was sentenced to fourteen days solitary confinement to be fed on bread and water. Two months after her release from this solitary confinement, Julia was sentenced to another seven days solitary confinement on bread and water, on 22 May 1834, after being charged by her master George Collins with absconding.

It would seem that not long after this, Julia was assigned to J.M. Stephenson of Launceston, for he charged her, on 25 July 1834, with being drunk and out after hours. As a result, she spent another seven days in solitary confinement fed on bread and water.

Julia had not been charged with another offence for over a year, when, on 15 September 1835, she was charged by J.A. Brown with being drunk. She was sentenced to three months imprisonment in the Crime Class at the Female House of Correction in Launceston.

Julia's last two offences occurred when she was holding her ticket-of-leave. On 25 November 1836, she was charged with being drunk and being found in an improper house (probably a sly grog shop) and was admonished. On 6 June 1838, Julia was charged with misconduct in being in a disorderly house (once again, probably a sly grog shop). This charge was dismissed.

It can only be wondered at the state of health of Julia after her time as a convict, having spent many periods fed only on bread and water and having been frequently drunk. How Julia continually managed to gain access to alcohol is another issue for conjecture.

Seven months prior to receiving her ticket-of-leave, Julia applied for permission to marry Alex McDonald, a convict transported on the David Lyon , on 16 March 1836, but, as with her earlier application, this was not approved.

Julia received her ticket-of-leave on 29 October 1836, according to the Colonial Secretary's Office notice of that date posted in the Hobart Town Gazette on 4 November 1836:

Tickets of Leave have been granted to the undermentioned Convicts:-

Three years after receiving her ticket-of-leave, Julia gained her certificate of freedom on 15 September 1839. Government Notice No.190 from the Colonial Secretary's Office dated 21 August 1839 and published in the Hobart Town Gazette on 23 August 1839 reads:

The period for which the under-mentioned persons were transported expiring at the date placed after their respective names, Certificates of Freedom may be obtained then, or at any subsequent period, upon application at the Muster Master's Office, Hobart Town, or at that of a Police Magistrate in the interior:-

WOMEN
Providence
50 Mullins, Julia, 15th September

Some time between receiving her ticket-of-leave and gaining her freedom, Julia met her future husband, Peter Hill. It is likely that they cohabited from an early stage, since Julia and Peter had five children, with their first, Peter, being born about 1838. Emily was born on 15 February 1839 at Pretty Plains near Cleveland; a third child was born about 1841; a female child was born on 6 November 1842 in the district of Launceston; and their last child, John, was born about 1844.

The existence of the third child has been determined from the census records for 1842 and 1843. According to the 1842 census, Peter and Julia had one son under the age of two years, one son aged between two and seven, and one daughter aged between two and seven. Two of these children would have been Peter and Emily. Yet, according to the 1843 census, Peter and Julia had one son aged between two and seven, and two daughters aged between two and seven. Once again, two of these children would have been Peter and Emily, and the third child (whose gender changed!) must have been born about 1841. So, how come the third child's gender changed? It is likely to have been a recording error-there were other small discrepancies between the two censuses. But there is no way to tell what sex the child was, as it is not recorded in the official records. The unnamed female child born in November 1842 died the same day so would not have been recorded on the census.

According to the census taken at Epping Forest on 5 January 1842, Julia and her family, and three other adult males, were living in an unfinished wood hut at Epping Forest, the property of David Gibson, Esquire. All of the three other adult males living with the family were single, Anglican, aged between twenty-one and forty-five years, and grouped into the occupation category of 'all other persons not included in the foregoing classes'. One was holding a ticket-of-leave, whilst the other two were free by servitude.

Yet, according to the census taken the next year on 3 January 1843, at Fairfield Saw Pits, Julia and her family, and one other single adult male, were living in a completed wood dwelling at Epping Forest, the property of John Gibson. The other single adult male was aged between twenty-one and forty-five years, was free by servitude and grouped into the occupation category 'mechanics and artificers'.

Thus, in the intervening year, the wooden hut had been completed, and two adult males had moved out. The property obviously belonged to the Gibson family who owned a lot of property in the Campbell Town area. Peter was most likely working as a sawyer.

Julia and Peter waited for ten years after the birth of their first child before they were officially married, most likely because they were living in an isolated district and both had had experience of being denied permission to marry-though by the end of 1839, both had gained their freedom and no longer needed permission to marry.

Julia married Peter Hill on 23 November 1848 at the parish church in Perth, in the district of Longford, four years after the birth of their last known child. Peter, free and unmarried, was aged forty-three years, and Julia, free and unmarried, was aged thirty-three years. They were married according to the rites and ceremonies of the United Church of England and Ireland by Alfred Stackhouse in the presence of Sabrina U and Henry Weston.

Even though Julia's age on her marriage record is given as thirty-five, it is likely she was actually forty-three, as calculated from her birth date, which has been determined from her death record and convict records.

At some time before 1858, Peter bought a house and twenty-eight acres of land at Skelton Township [4] and the family moved there to live. Peter died on 10 December 1864 and Julia died four years later on 25 January 1869. Julia was listed as a farmer's wife at the time of her death. The informant was her son, John Hill, of Barton (a property near Campbell Town which adjoins Skelton). He registered her death the following day. Julia's death notice in the Launceston Examiner on Thursday, 28 January 1869 reads:

HILL-On 25th January, at Skelton, River Isis, aged 65, Julia, relict of the late Mr. Peter Hill.

No burial record for Julia has been found, but since her husband, Peter, was buried at Skelton (probably on their property), it is likely that she is buried with him. Julia had twenty-four known grandchildren, from her two children Emily and John, ten of whom were born before she died in 1869.

Also published in Dr Trudy Mae Cowley, Relative Rapscallions and Recidivists , Hobart, 2003.

REFERENCES

Birth, Death & Marriage Records

AOT, RGD 32/3 1855 (Launceston) No. 4709, baptism record of Emily Hill.

AOT, RGD 33/23 1842 (Launceston) No. 1192, birth record of female Hill.

AOT, RGD 35/38 1869 (Campbell Town) No. 34, burial record of Julia Hill.

AOT, RGD 37/7 1848 (Longford) No. 2030, marriage record of Julia Mullins and Peter Hill.

Books

Charles Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787-1868, first published Glasgow, 1959; this edition Sydney, 1983.

Phillip Tardif, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls, Collins, Angus & Robertson Australia, 1990.

Convict Records

AOT, CON 40/7, Conduct Record.

AOT, CON 45/1, Permission to Marry.

AOT, CON 52/1, p.34, Permission to Marry.

AOT, MM 33/1, Indent.

AOT, MM 33/5, Appropriation List.

Newspaper Records

HobartTownGazette, 4 November 1836.

Launceston Examiner,28 January 1869.

Other Records

AOT, CEN 1/6, p.29, Census 1842.

AOT, CEN 1/47, p.21, Census 1843.

AOT, Valuation Rolls, Campbell Town District, 13 April 1858.

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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.