WILLIAM  TUNKS, Marine, HMS SIRIUS, 1754-1821 and Sarah Lyons

William Tunks, marine from the Flagship Sirius, was one of the many that wished to make the best of an opportunity in a new land, well away from the afflictions of the world.

The only record of his age to survive is how old he was the time of his death when he is recorded as 67 years old. (Cowell, J, 1977) This would put his age at 21 at the outbreak of the American War of Independence in which he fought and 29 years old at its end. He stayed in the military but what ships he served on are not known until joining the third-rate 74-gun warship Ganges from 1785 under Captain Sir Roger Curtis. On 20th September 1786 he was discharged to Haslar Military Hospital in Portsmouth from Ganges. (Gillen, M, 1989)

On his discharge he applied for, and was accepted by Permanent Under Secretary Evan Nepean, before being shortlisted for final approval by Captain Arthur Phillip who was preparing a fleet of eleven ships to go to New South Wales. (Parliamentary Records, now known as Hansard.) William was one of six supernumeraries to sail on the flagship Sirius under Captain Arthur Phillip and Captain John Hunter, 2nd in Command. His job was awl and gimlet maker, an important role on wooden sail ships.

At thirty-four years of age on arrival in New Holland he was a seasoned sea-going man with fighting experience so had good reason to hope for peaceful conditions. But what awaited was not the utopia that he wished. It is interesting to note that he was also known as Tonks, Tinks, Tanks, Jacks as well as several other names. Not a great deal is known about him but over the years small details have surfaced to show extra glimpses. He was older than the average marine or soldier and had survived at least two known sea conflicts. (British Naval Records)

To muddy the waters, a man called William Tonks enlisted in the military at Birmingham stating he was a collier. However, this was not the same man that arrived in Australia. William Tonks (Birmingham) gave his age as 18 and belonged to the Birmingham Tonks family who later became famous for their production of brass and who are still in business. DNA testing in both families has indicated no relationship. (R. Tonks, Birmingham University, 2005) Further, William Tunks was not English, with DNA records showing him to be Northern European. The territory he was from changed hands periodically, but it seems the area he originated in may have, at the time of his birth, been in Russian hands. Many came here only to find their names altered and many from foreign countries had had their names anglicised. William’s name change was not uncommon. His original name has been isolated to one of two possibilities, but this is in the process of being further researched.

It is not known when William first arrived in Britain, but he joined the military on arriving there. Whether he had been in the military in another country is not yet known. Several years after joining Britain’s military, he was required to fight for them in the American War of Independence. At the time this war started he was in his late teens (British Military Records).

Between the beginning of the War in 1775 until 1783 he served on at least two ships before being assigned to the 74-gun 3rd rate warship Ganges serving first under Sir J. Lutterell before Sir Roger Curtis took over the captainship in 1784, just months before William was injured and discharged to Haslar Military Hospital in Portsmouth. He was there for three months before being discharged but he was not assigned another ship. (British Naval Records) It was postulated that William served on the training ship Ganges but as this was not commissioned for service until 1865 clearly it is incorrect (Military Records of Britain) as William had died in 1821.

Following William’s discharge from Haslar Hospital, though still in the navy, he was not paid. (Officers received half-pay but not rank and file. [British Military Records]) The future did not look bright for him at this stage. It is thought he may have served for a time in the merchant navy but there do not appear to be records to substantiate or refute this claim.

Just before 1786 William married a woman named Sarah in a Synagogue near Portsmouth. (Archival Records of Britain.) Money was tight though Sarah came from an influential and moderately well-off (for the times) Jewish family. As they were married in a Synagogue William must also have been Jewish.

Sarah was incorrectly recorded as being black by the court stenographer when in fact she said she had a ‘short, black-haired sister’. However, the assumption of being black was generally said of Sephardic Jews as these people were predominantly olive-skinned, black-haired, and brown eyed.

Her first arrest with friend Anne Gibson saw her serve six months hard labour with 25 strokes of the whip. Anne was found not guilty. Following Sarah’s second arrest, again with Anne Gibson, Sarah spent nine and a half months in gaol along with Lord George Gordon, a humane man who was hated by the Government for several manufactured reasons, but he was not helped by his earlier Jewish conversion to Judaism. (R. Watson, 1795) Sarah and Lord George Gordon had known each other before their trials and incarcerations and were now in cells alongside each other in the ‘wealthy’ part of the gaol. Sarah’s brother, recorded by the Head Keeper Mr Kirby, visited both Lord George Gordon and Sarah. (M Kahan 2009). (British National Archives, Newgate Gaol Records) Evidence strongly points to her family name being Sobel rather than Sabolah as John Nicol records. (Hordes, 2007; Jewish Family Name Archival Records) The word ‘cebola’ is the Iberian word for ‘onion’. The names of ‘Sobol’ and’ Sebol’ are Jewish names derived from the word ‘sable’. Many Jewish merchants dealt in furs.) Research on all the women of Lady Juliana show one only as fulfilling all necessary criteria – Sarah Lyons. The ‘Mystery Letter Writer of Lady Juliana’ is most probably Sarah Lyons (Sobel).

This letter to Lord George Gordon describes in detail the terrible conditions of the Second Fleet. Bergman states in his book Australian Genesis (Bergman; G; Levi, S, 2002) that almost all Jews could read and write. Sarah demonstrated this several times but during the 1850s all documents pertaining to her were burnt, probably due to her being Jewish and for arriving in a ship carrying women labelled as prostitutes. However, two people recall seeing correspondence from her, showing clearly that she was literate. When the Second Fleet arrived only days following Lady Juliana’s arrival, these women, who had been treated well, were horrified at what they witnessed. That arrival precipitated parliamentary debate followed by laws being passed in 1814 that obligated captains to ensure the ‘cargo’ was better treated. There is no doubt that many lives were saved.

Sarah Lyons, noted as Sarah Sabolah, led groups of women in three of the four ports they came to in penitent religious parades, with herself and Jewish friends posing as Christians, to gather money and gifts from sympathetic bystanders. No doubt there were Christian women among the groups but none could have done this without the express approval of the Captain and crew – the captain by giving them dark material from the hold and the crewmen from fashioning crude crucifixes for the women to carry. (Nicols Journal) Shortly after arrival in NSW Sarah, along with others, was sent to Norfolk Island to assist in the crop growing.

William Tunks eventually was allowed to go to Norfolk Island to be with his wife, Sarah. Governor Arthur Phillip allowed him to exchange his 60acre block (the amount of land assigned to privates of the military with a wife but no children) (Journal David Collins) for 60 acres on Norfolk Island but the particular block of land was to be chosen by Major Robert Ross. Major Ross gave William Tunks a steep, difficult block to work, Lot 49. He worked building his house with the help of Nathaniel Lucas and others getting his garden beds underway. The land, despite its steepness, was fertile and soon crops appeared. No doubt it was Sarah’s job, though pregnant, to pick off the many and varied grubs and other insects, to carry the water and try to keep the dirt on the gardens that were being terraced as they went.

In August their daughter, Rebekkah Ann, was born, exactly nine months following William’s arrival on the island. The Reverend Richard Johnson arrived on Norfolk Island in 1791 on the Atlantic, the same ship that brought William. Reverend Johnson immediately began conducting weddings, funerals and baptisms and made the offer to William and Sarah to marry. (Reports that say William and Sarah first met on Norfolk Island are incorrect.) They refused as they were already married but such was the bigotry of the time that in the manner of Christian religion tenets, if there were no Christian marriage then the couple were not regarded as married when in NSW.

William and Sarah continued making their own life, despite the fact that there were few Jews on Norfolk Island other than Amelia Levy, Esther Abrahams and perhaps several others.

At one stage Sarah was living close to Amelia Levy – one of her friends from London days - in Sydney, and later came to be close neighbours of Esther Abrahams. Life on Norfolk Island was pleasant for most at this time (its extreme brutality came later) but the politics were not as easy to abide. For some reason Sarah was noted by Lt Ralph Clark as being “a d…..b….” (damn bitch) that could be read as code for ‘spirited female’. Clearly, he harboured an intense dislike of her, ordering her to be whipped three times. (Sarah received a total of five whippings.) The cause of one such punishment was for being rude to D’arcy Wentworth, another for refusing to give him, Clark, an answer. Sarah survived her floggings and as soon as William arrived on the Island, Clark ignored her.

Major Ross left the Island, but Philip Gidley King returned to it as its governor, and he was less driven by discipline than Ross. Troubles soon magnified, particularly through the number of soldiers that came to the Island. King did little to temper their incessant demands, including taking women convicts as their own property, even those who were in relationships with other men and had given birth to their children. Convicts and soldiers were stealing the crops of the settlers. Soon problems increased. Their complaints were ignored by King and the disgruntlement led to many moving back to the mainland, including William and Sarah with baby Rebekkah Ann, on the Kitty. In addition to the problems on the island, Governor Grose in NSW had refused to honour the promises of Governor Arthur Phillip to pay settlers who produced food and wished to sell it to the government.

Many settlers on Norfolk Island and the mainland became impoverished and unable to trade for extra supplies. They found life on the mainland not greatly improved. William was given more land, but he had difficulty improving them. He started his own ‘cottage industry’ of awl and gimlet making but it could not support them in the beginning so he enlisted in the 102nd Regiment of Foot, remaining in it until 1810 when it was disbanded. His duties as a soldier took precedence so his farming attempts were not enough to support the family until he was given fertile land on the banks of the Nepean River of 140 acres and he received help. One hundred and forty acres was a most significant grant as most blocks were much less. (McIntyre, 2008)

William, as far as Governor King was concerned, had provided valuable contributions to the colony. But while frequent floods added to soil fertility it was disastrous to those trying to live and make a living from these acres. It may never be known why William was so favoured as names of rank and file were rarely mentioned in despatches to Britain. The one exception to his name shown in Government Despatches is when a court case was held over a feud between several officers while William was on picket duty. This occurred not long after he joined this Corp.

The dispute between the officers was, unsurprisingly, instigated by John Macarthur and swords were drawn with much unofficer-like language thrown. Caught in the middle was William Tonks. (sic) William was ordered by Macarthur to take the swords of two of the men in order to prevent bloodshed. He obliged, even though they still continued with their abuse of each other.

Court records do not state or imply that William was in any danger though it is easy to imagine that he could not have been comfortable. The unstable Macarthur was taken into custody along with another officer and at the trial William was obliged to give evidence. The transcript points to the fact that William knew the dangers of giving evidence against Macarthur as his replies to the prosecutors and defendants show a surprising amount of tact, (Court Proceedings of the Early Colony, in Governors Dispatches to Britain.) particularly as later events show he disliked Macarthur.

William and Sarah had at least six children, with the last known child born at the time of the floods of 1806 that destroyed their farm of 140acres. The only report of its presence comes from Reverend Samuel Marsden and Surgeon Thomas Arndell who reported that ‘Jewish concubine’ (meaning she had not married in a Christian ceremony) ‘Sarah Lyons, friend of Amelia Levy, was near her time.’ There are no records of this child’s birth or burial nor any later record of a child with either the name of Lyons or Tunks or Tonks or any variation.

At the time of the insurrection of 26 January 1808, less than two years after Bligh’s arrival, Captain George Johnston, acting under John Macarthur’s influence, overthrew Governor William Bligh. Shortly before this coup a group calling themselves The Loyalists was formed. They supported Governor Bligh as during the floods of 1806 that occurred just before his arrival, he was the only one of the governing men that offered the devastated settlers assistance. Things between Bligh and Macarthur became so bad that in a short time weapons were issued to those who signed up to the Loyalists and William Tunks is recorded as receiving firearms. (There is no record of him handing them back.) In any event, it did not come to open warfare and Bligh was deposed without bloodshed but the Loyalists continued for some time while Captain George Johnston was leading the colony (heavily influenced by Macarthur). (Evatt, 1938) Surgeon Thomas Arndell is also listed as one of the Loyalists, opposing Macarthur and Captain George Johnston.

On 3 September 1809 William, walking with a friend along a path surrounded by bushland, (Cowell, 1977) was confronted by three First Nations men brandishing spears and threatening to run William through, thus killing him. This group was led by the guerilla warrior Tedbury, reputed to be either the son or grandson of Pemulwuy, a famed earlier warrior who was trying, in vain, to stop the white people settling here, particularly as they were making no conciliatory efforts, instead taking whatever they wanted.

Two other warriors with Tedbury at the time were Bundel, a young man whose parents had both been killed, his mother by a shark and his father in one of the many conflicts with European settlers. The other man’s identity is unknown. Bundel had been adopted as a young boy and raised by Captain William Hill of the NSW Corps but as a young man Bundel rejoined his own people.

William and his friend were saved only by the appearance of other men appearing on the path behind them with the three warriors disappearing into the surrounding bush. Whether William was targeted personally or whether because he was a ‘red shirt’ (member of the military that wore red jackets) is not known. Almost certainly William will have taken part in at least some of the raids. As part of the military, he would have considered it his job to obey orders but how well he obeyed is an open question. Following this particular confrontation, he lodged a complaint with the magistrates’ court but the magistrate, while noting it for future reference, exhorted him and his family as well as other settlers to take no retaliatory action. (Court Records of the Colony) It seems they heeded his advice as there are no other records to suggest otherwise.

Following the disasters of the many floods that all the colonists endured, (Gill, J.C.J. 1969) particularly those along the banks of Nepean/Hawkesbury Rivers, William Tunks turned to depending more on the trade that had he arrived here with - that of awl and gimlet making, backed up by the timber trade and in this latter he was helped by his young son John who at the time was married to Esther Arndell. William had acquired some properties by sale, trade, and by being paid for his services by blocks of land. William and John collected the timber from these properties, selling the timber to the boat-builders then selling and trading the cleared land for farming. (Lands Department Records)

With his awl and gimlet making skills William was deeply immersed in the ship-building industry though it seems he himself did not embark on the building of ships other than for his own use. Much of the traffic along the rivers depended on small craft as it was much quicker, and probably safer, to travel the waterways than the roadways. In any case there was more than enough work for William without becoming a boat-builder. It seems that almost from the beginning of his settlement here he was reliant on his own resources rather than government resources. He also embarked in a small way on winegrowing but this seems to have been for their own use rather than any commercial interest. All in all, William and Sarah seem to have made a relative success of their lives to some degree, apart from the tragedies of the loss of so many of their children.

William died on 6 August 1821, just weeks before the loss of his son Charles, leaving Sarah to deal with the double loss. While only two of William Tunks and Sarah Lyons’ children themselves having children, descendants of these two people have increased to many thousands. It took fortitude and strength of character for those early people to survive the rigours they found on arrival.

Nevertheless, both William and Sarah displayed courage and fortitude in dealing with the conditions. William died at age 67, cause unknown, and Sarah lived until she was 76, dying accidentally by drowning after reputedly (but not confirmed) returning from visiting her only remaining child, John. He did not attend her inquest to confirm or deny it.

#8793 Elizabeth Warren

Note on Sources: A Reference List will be provided when available.