THE WRIGHT FAMILY   - John Power

PART 1 - FROM EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LONDON TO TWENTIETH CENTURY AUSTRALIA

However, at that time there was nowhere available for the transportation of convicts.  Prior to 1776 many had been sent to the American colonies where they were sold into a form of bondage.  They were virtually slaves.  After the War of Independence, this practice ceased, and the British Government was forced to seek an alternative destination in order to relieve the vast overcrowding in the British jails.

At one stage, Africa was considered but then it was decided that it would be too hot and water supplies were not suitable.  Finally in 1787, a decision was made to set up a Colony on Botany Bay, discovered by Captain Cook, in 1770.

Meanwhile, Joseph and the other like him, were confined on "hulks", moored in the Thames.  Working parties were taken ashore during the day and returned for confinement on board at night.

On 6th January, 1788, Joseph was selected for shipment and on 21st January he was accepted by Captain Sinclair, the Master of the "Alexander". Somehow, either before the ships sailed or during the voyage, it appears that Joseph was transferred to the "Scarborough", for it was on this vessel that he arrived at Port Jackson.

Nothing is recorded about him during his first two years in the Colony, and it is therefore assumed that he must have been well behaved, not having come to the notice of his warders or the authorities.

Meanwhile, in Liverpool, a young woman, named Eleanor Gott, was charged at the Assizes, on 3rd August, 1789, with stealing sundry items from her employer, Charles Norris.  The eldest of  a family of six, she was the daughter of a shoemaker, John Gott.  During her early life she apparently learnt the trade from her father for, in later years, she taught the craft to all of her sons.

Eleanor was sentenced to 3 years transportation and sent out on the "Neptune", on of the Second Fleet. This ship, known as the "Hell Ship", provided the worst instance of ill-treatment and brutality of any that brought convicts to Australia.  Out of the 499 boarded, 158 died during the voyage.  The ship's officers allegedly withheld food so that it could be sold at a profit when they reached the near starving colony.

Also on board the "Neptune" was another female convict from Kent.  Her name was Sarah Griggs and she also was to feature later on in the Wright story.

The Second Fleet arrived in June 1790, adding to the problems of the already overtaxed colony.  Some of the convicts were sent to Norfolk Island straight away, and Sarah was amongst them.

On 13th December 1790, Joseph Wright and Eleanor were married, in St. Phillip's Church, by the Rev. Richard Johnson, but they first had to obtain special permission from Governor Phillip.

Their first born child as Joseph who was baptized by Richard Johnson and two years later, another son, Robert, was born.  He was baptized at St. John's, Parramatta.  In the same year, on 22nd November, Lieutenant Governor Grose granted Joseph (and 21 others, mostly ex-convicts) 30 acres of land on the Hawkesbury River in the district of Mulgrave Park.  The area was later to become known as Pitt Town Bottoms, a name that is still in use today.

Joseph had some success as a farmer but he suffered many setbacks, what with floods and corrupt officials.  By 1803 he was able to fully support his family, but floods in 1806 and 1809 were disastrous and as a result of the 1809 flood the Wrights lost most of their land.

It was at about this time that he petitioned Governor Macquarie, seeking a "man of stores" to assist him in his labours.  At that time Joseph was supporting a wife and five children.  The two older boys, Joseph and Robert, had been sent to learn trades - Joseph a wheelwright, and Robert, a blacksmith.

Soon after this Joseph Wright died, passing away on 25th August 1811, at the age of 44 years.  He was buried in the Sydney Burial Ground, the site where the Sydney Town Hall now stands.  (In early 1988, the First Fleeters' Association had a plaque erected on the south side of the Town Hall building to commemorate those who sleep there.)

Eleanor remarried in 1812, a Daniel Buckridge, and lived on until 28th April, 1843, when she died at the age of 68 years.  Considering the horrors she had experienced in her early life, it could be said that she lived to a "ripe old age".