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Michael Murphy
Marine - HMS Sirius
this story is under review by Membership Team
The young Michael Murphy doubtless had an adventurous
streak as he abandoned his trade of cordwainer - a
leather worker, or shoemaker – for a career in the Royal
Navy.
For his time he was a relatively tall man of 5ft 8ins,
thin faced and of dark complexion, with grey eyes and
dark brown hair. He was born in Wexford, Ireland most
probably in February 1758 so was about 21 years of age
when he enlisted in the Portsmouth Marines as a private
on 3 July 1779. (Records of 16th September
1808 give his age as 50 years and six months.) Between
1780 and 1783 he saw service in the West Indies where
the sun and heat and colour must have seemed as far
removed from the mists of Ireland as it was possible to
be. In 1785 he was back in Britain, serving on the
Portsmouth guardship Ardent.
He
was a Private from the 41st Company when he
joined HMS Sirius at Portsmouth on 24th
February 1787 as part of the ship’s marine complement.
He was No 22 in a list of 23 Marines which included a
Second Lieutenant, a Sergeant, a Corporal and a ‘Drum’.
Also on board was Samuel King from the 50th
Company who was to become a dear friend of Michael’s.
The Captain was Arthur Phillip.
The British Government had begun assembling what would
become known as the First Fleet at the beginning of
1787. The Sirius was one of two Naval ships, the
other being the Supply. There were three stores
ships – the Fishburn, Golden Grove and
Borrowdale, and six convict transports, most of
which had been black slavers and consequently conditions
below decks were cramped and unsavoury, to say the
least. These ships were the Alexander, Scarborough,
Charlotte, Lady Penrhyn, Prince of Wales, and
Friendship.
The assembled fleet set sail at dawn on a pleasant
Sunday morning, 13 May 1787, after many delays,
travelling via Tenerife in the Canary Islands where they
broke their journey briefly, to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil
where they arrived on 4th August, a journey
of 12 weeks. After a month at anchor there
re-provisioning the ships and collecting various seeds
and plants for food crops in the new colony, they
departed for Capetown and the Cape of Good Hope. They
arrived in October and again spent a month resting and
taking fresh food and water on board, as well as further
useful plant material. They set out on their final long
leg of the journey on 12th November, and
reached their destination some eleven weeks later, the
ships arriving between 19th and 23rd
January 1788. They began offloading on 26th
January, now celebrated as Australia Day.
Later that year, on 30th August, Michael
Murphy, Private Marine on board His Majesty’s Ship the
Sirius, Captain Arthur Phillip Commander, No on
the Marine List 22 ………. made, declared and published
his last will and testament in favour of his “beloved
friend Samuel King”, in the presence of John Hunter 2nd
Captain and John Palmer, Purser. Michael was illiterate,
so he ‘signed’ with his mark.
The following year, on 5th June, Michael was
discharged from the ship’s books to the Port Jackson
detachment. He continued his service career, doing duty
on board the Gorgon while she was in port, from
31st October to 11th December
1791, joining the NSW Corps on 6th April 1792
and serving his five years until April 1797. On 6th
April 1798 he received a land grant of 60 acres on the
Georges River in the district of Bankstown, at a rent of
1 shilling per year commencing after 5 years, and eight
months later, in January 1799, he and Stephen Gilbert
shared a grant of 200 acres, also in the district of
Bankstown at a rent of 2 shillings per year commencing
after five years. This grant was subsequently cancelled
when Lieutenant Matthew Flinders was granted 300 acres
on 1st January 1800 including the
Murphy-Gilbert land which he purchased from them.
A
new century had dawned, and Michael rejoined the Corps
on 6th February 1800, becoming a member of
the 102nd Regiment in which he served in Van
Diemen’s Land until the Corps was recalled in 1810. At
that time he applied for transfer to the 73rd
Regiment, but was instead transferred to the NSW Veteran
Company and remained in VDL. At this time he was about
52 years of age.
It
is not known how, when or where Michael Murphy and
Hannah Williams met, but it is assumed that their
relationship began some time soon after she arrived in
the Colony in December 1801. Their first child, Ellen,
or Ellinor, was born about 1803, and their second,
another daughter named Elizabeth, in 1804.
Also in that year a new settlement was established by
Colonel Paterson in Van Diemen’s Land, at Port Dalrymple.
Michael, as a member of the 102nd Regiment,
went on the Buffalo from Port Jackson to Port
Dalrymple, accompanying the Lady Nelson, Integrity,
and Frances. It is highly likely that Hannah was
one of the contingent of convicts which also made the
journey; there were 74 convicts in all but it is not
recorded if they were male or female. Certainly she was
with Michael, as the births of their subsequent children
attest.
Twelve months after their arrival in VDL, Colonel
Paterson wrote to Earl Camden describing some of the
difficulties they had encountered, and indicating that
he considered these to be largely overcome. Buffalo
had brought “a proportion of such stores and provisions
as could be spared, 120 ewes, 2 rams, 6 cows, 2 bulls, 1
mare, and 1 horse: 50 prisoners were also sent.” Some
five free settlers also arrived, allotments were chosen
and measured out and “everyone exerted themselves as
much as possible.” Unfortunately many of the blocks
proved to be unsuitable for cultivation – the lots on
the hillsides produced poorly and those on low ground
were subject to flooding. Col Paterson recommended that,
as the first settlers, they be compensated for their
losses by being granted better blocks on the banks of
the Tamar River.
It
was quite common in the early days, when ministers of
religion were few and far between, for couples to
commence their life together until such time as it was
possible to have their union formalised. This was
probably the case for Michael and Hannah. On 10th
March 1811 Michael Murphy and Hannah Williams, both of
Launceston, Port Dalrymple, were married after banns by
Robert Knapwood MA. Both signed with their mark, and the
witnesses were Maj Commandant G A Gordon, and ? Kenny.
On that day their daughters Ellinor, Elizabeth, and two
more, Mary and Jane, were baptised. There were two more
children – a son, Michael, reportedly born about 1812
and baptized at St John’s Launceston on 13 March 1814,
and Maria, born circa 1814.
From this time on there is some doubt about the exact
movements of Michael. As previously noted, he
transferred to the NSW Veteran Company and is recorded
as serving back in New South Wales, at Parramatta,
between 1814 and 1816, and at Emu Plains until his death
in 1823. A land grant of 100 acres was made to a Michael
Murphy at Parramatta in 1809 – whether this is the same
man or not is unclear. There are various other records
of land held by Michael Murphy - in October 1816, 35
acres at Appin; in 1820, 81 acres by grant plus 50
purchased at Parramatta. There was at least one other
Michael Murphy in the colony at the time, so some of
these parcels of land may not have been ‘our’ Michael’s.
Michael died on 10th January 1823, aged 63,
and was buried the following day at St Matthew’s,
Windsor. The transcribed death certificate supplied is
made out in the name of Archibald Murphy. Researchers
who viewed the original document, or a photocopy, stated
that the name was abbreviated and that there is a strong
similarity between that for Archibald and that for
Michael. There are no records of an Archibald Murphy.
Submitted by
Gayle Thomsett FF Associate # 2038.1
Jeff Thomsett # 2038 FF Nathaniel Lucas, Olivia
Gascoigne and Michael Murphy
References
(Cited in general order of
use. Details of all not available.)
1
Mollie Gillen The Founders of Australia – A
Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet Library
of Australian History, Sydney 1989 p 259
2 Extract from the Muster Rolls of HMS
Sirius May 1787 – February 1788 PRO Reel 6030
Mitchell Library.
3
P McKay ed. A Nation Within a Nation – The Lucas
Clan in Australia 2nd edition 2004
4 Photocopy, Will of Michael Murphy. Public Record
Office ADM48/58
5
R J Ryan, BA ed. Land Grants 1788 – 1809. A record of
registered grants and leases in NSW, Van Diemen’s Land
and Norfolk Island Australian Documents Library,
Sydney Griffin press Ltd
6 D Beddoe Welsh Convict Women copy in Soc Of
Aust Genealogists Library, Sydney. P64
Also, HO 11/1 PRO Reel 87 (UK researcher)
7 Muster 1811, Port Dalrymple VDL PRO reel 77,
Mitchell Library.
8
Ida Lee FRGS The Logbooks of the ‘Lady Nelson’ with
the Journal of her first Commander Lt James Grant, RN
Copy in State Library of Tasmania p 318
9 Marriage certificate M Murphy & H Williams 1811
10 Baptism record Michael Murphy (Jnr) 1814
11 Death of Michael Murphy, PRO reel 418, WO 12/11229
1823
12 Transcript death certificate ‘Archibald’ Murphy
13 Hobarttown Gazette Saturday August 1, 1818.
No 114
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