ANN FORBES
The following story was told to
the children of Class 3S at Yowie Bay Public School in November 2012
following the presentation of the First Fleet chart to the school by
our granddaughter Tiffany Wilson.
Ann Forbes was born about 1770 (the year Captain Cook discovered
Australia). She grew up in very hard times - no comfortable place to
go to sleep, often going hungry because there was no food for the
family, and bad things were happening to people who lived around
her. So no wonder from an early age she was in trouble with the
law. When she was about 18, her friend, Lydia Munro persuaded her
to go to a shop nearby and together they stole a bundle of cotton
material - we think they were each going to make themselves a dress
or perhaps make one for their mothers. Unfortunately, someone saw
them and the shopkeeper reported it to the police who immediately
arrested them and put them in gaol. At their trial, the judge
decided they would die by hanging for their crime. Another judge
later reduced their sentence to being sent to Botany Bay in one of
the ships that was about to sail for the new land discovered by
Captain Cook 8 years before. This was because the gaols in England
were so full that the government had to find somewhere else to send
those who had committed a crime.
Ann was given
a 7 year sentence but her friend Lydia got 14 years so we believe
Ann was not the main culprit in the crime. So together with 777
other convicts, only 191 of whom were women, Ann Forbes left England
in May, 1787 on the sailing ship "Prince of Wales" with the First
Fleet bound for the new colony in Botany Bay.
Poor Ann must
have found the trip very unpleasant and perhaps wondered where on
earth they were taking her when the distance was so great. She
managed to survive the trip that took 8 long months. Many times she
was seasick from the rolling of the boats in the rough seas. They
were often kept below deck for days at a time with no fresh air, no
dry blankets to keep them warm, no pillows to snuggle into, no
toilets or clean water to wash themselves and very little food to
eat. For 8 months!! When they finally arrived in Sydney Cove the
women convicts were kept on board their ships until the male
convicts had prepared a place of shelter for them at Sydney Cove.
Soon after
her arrival in Sydney, Ann made friends with another convict named
George and they soon had 2 children. Food was very scarce because
the place they had chosen to set up the colony had very bad soil and
the seeds they had brought from England soon died, so no flour to
make bread and no fresh vegetables.
Governor Phillip decided to
send some of the convicts to Norfolk Island in the hope of finding
somewhere else to grow more food so Ann and George were chosen to
go. She stayed on Norfolk for 4 years and during this time Ann had
2 more children to another convict named William Dring. Three of
her babies died.
In 1794 Ann
and her 1 surviving child were taken back to Sydney and here she
separates from William Dring. Ann married Thomas Huxley, a convict
who had come to Sydney on the Third Fleet. His crime was that he
had stolen a handkerchief and for that he was given a sentence of 7
years.
Thomas was a
hard worker and promised Ann that he would work to provide for her
and her children. Ann was very happy with Thomas and together they
had another 11 children. At first they lived on land given to
Thomas after he had served his 7 years - that was in the Blakehurst
area. Thomas made friends with the aborigines who lived in this
area but they couldn't pronounce his name properly so instead of
saying "Tom Huxley" they called him "Tom Ugly". So when a punt was
built to cross the Georges River between Sylvania and Blakehurst it
was called Tom Ugly's Crossing. Of course, today we know it as Tom
Ugly's bridge. So if you have ever wondered who Tom Ugly was that
they should name a bridge after him - now you know - it was
Tiffany's great, great, great, great, great grandfather!!
Later Thomas
and Ann moved their family to Lower Portland on the Hawkesbury River
where they started a little farm and grew their own vegetables and
had a couple of cows. They worked very hard to make a living there
and made friends with the aborigines who lived in that area.
Ann died in
1851 at the age of 80. She was recognised as being the oldest living
First Fleet convict in Australia at that time. At the
time
of her death she had 115 grandchildren!!! Just imagine trying to
remember all their names and birthdays. However I don't think Ann
and Thomas would have had any money to buy them all presents, do
you?
Our family is very proud of
Ann - she is Tiffany's great, great, great, great, great grandmother
- she was a true pioneer and founding mother of our nation!!
|