The convict ship “Stag” departed England, bound for Fremantle, on the 27 January 1855. George Brand was one of 85 convicts onboard. George was 33 years old and did not consider himself a handsome man. He had scraggly brown hair that was lightly balding, a sallow complexion with grey eyes and whilst quite tall at 5’ 8” he was a…
Over the past week, I have released the story of George Brand: A Convict Success Story. If you missed this series, you can read about him at the following links. For those of you who have already read them, I really hope you enjoyed hearing about George and the Australia convict system that he became a part of. If you…
Freedom or Something Like It On 3 April 1856 George received his Ticket of Leave, after only 11 months in the Swan Settlement, and he went to work for Charles Crowther in the Greenough area.1,2,3,4 The below register shows the money that came to George on his release to start the next stage of his life as a ticket of…
A Western Australian Convict On 2 February 1855 George departed for Western Australia with 224 other convicts onboard the “Stag”, which sailed from London with Surgeon Superintendent Caldwell on board.1,2,,3,4 They arrived in Fremantle on 23 May 1855, the fourteenth convict ship to arrive on its shores.1,,2,,3 The Swan River Settlement in Western Australia was founded by free settlers on…
George Brand in Prison The first records of imprisonment that can be found are of George being sent from Edinburgh Prison, Scotland to Millbank Prison, Middlesex, England on the 13 September 1852.1,2 Millbank Prison was opened in 1816 as the national penitentiary but the design was so poor that even the guards would get lost.3,4 Due to this, the decision…
George Brand and His Crimes In 1851 George again found himself before the courts for theft. A total of seven charges were put to him of numerous thefts from goods trains and trucks.1 At the time of these charges his occupation was listed as a potato dealer so it would seem that he used his prior knowledge from working for…
Hopefully, by now you have read some of my Stories Under the Tree, fictional stories based on my ancestors and the records I have available. I have created this page to bring you the non-fictional facts and stories surrounding my ancestors. Some of these will be assignments I have created whilst doing my Family History Diploma through UTAS and others…
Introducing George Brand Australia was built on the backbone of convicts and the stories of these men and women are as vast and varied as the lives they left behind. Whilst some of these people failed to ever get out of the system, many others went on to establish a successful life in Australia. One such convict is George Brand…
Today I decided to veer away from the “Stories Under the Tree” that I have posted over the past week to tell you about my convict ancestor, George Brand. During the Diploma of Family History I have undertaken there has been two Units on convicts – Convict Ancestors and Convicts in Context. The first unit lets you choose a convict…
Jonah sat with his head in his hands. He had no idea how he was to continue. It was bad enough that young Sarah and George had to die but why did God have to take his Henney as well? How could he do it all raise the remaining children and work? “Dad do you want a cup of tea?”…