Kennedy Murray

Martha Brooks

Henry Pollard

Olivia Gascoigne

Nathaniel Lucas

Ann White

A Thief by Habit

My great great great grandfather, Kennedy Murray, who was born in 1764 in Dundonald, in Ayreshire, Scotland, was considered a thief by habit by the magistrate who tried him in Glasgow on 24 September 1786. He had stolen an assortment of goods, which included a wooden box, a pair of “knittings with buckles” and six knives, from a travelling salesman and for this he was sentenced to transportation for 14 years. Under normal circumstances he would have been placed in a Glasgow gaol – and if that had happened I would not have existed - however the Scottish jails were full and he became one of the first 20 convicts from Scotland to be transported.

Kennedy Murray travelled as one of 404 convicts on board the Pitt which sailed with the Royal Admiral and the Kitty. His date of departure from Yarmouth was 17 July 1791 and he arrived in Sydney almost seven months later on 14 February 1792 when he was about 27 years old. He was one of the lucky convicts who were alive at the end of the voyage as opposed to 29 of them who died.

Toongabbie Convict Farm

Initially he was placed at the Toongabbie convict farm, however four years later, on 1 October 1796, he was transferred to Norfolk Island, another move which helped him to become one of my direct ancestors. On Norfolk, fellow convict Ann White had been deserted by John Scott and upon Kennedy’s arrival they began a relationship which produced three children, Kennedy (1799), Elizabeth (1802 – my great great grandmother) and possibly a third child, Sarah, however there is a question of dates as his sentence expired on 1 January 1802 and within three months he had deserted Ann.

Kennedy Murray left Norfolk Island on 23 April 1802 to settle at Evan (later called Penrith) which was on the Nepean River outside Sydney. He was granted 30 acres there on 25 November 1809 and he then married another former convict, Ann Parker on 14 March 1814. Prior to the marriage they had a son, John (1812) and a further three children were then born, William (1815), Henry (1816) and James (1819).

The year after James’ birth, Kennedy Murray placed Ann in a lunatic asylum at Castle Hill and in July 1823 she died, insane. Following her death the four boys became inmates of the Cabramatta Boys Orphanage. It is not clear how long the boys remained there however by 1828 Kennedy was known to be living on three acres at Pittwater with John and a housekeeper, Ann Haines. He later moved to Evandale in Tasmania where he died on 18 June 1853 aged about 89. On his death certificate he was described as a gentleman.