The YOUNG Sisters
Name Variations SMITH
Father John YOUNG b. 18191 m. (1) 18532 d. 18673
Step-father Henry SMITH b. m. (2) 18674 d.
Step-father Bernard GEOGHEGAN b.c. 18425 m. (3) 18726 d. 19127
Mother Elizabeth alias Ellen McGOVERIN8 b.c. 18339 m. (1) 1853 (2) 1867 (3) 1872 (4) 1891 d. 189510
Inmate Sarah Ann YOUNG b.c. 1853 m. 1875 (see below) d. 192611
Sister Margaret YOUNG12 b. 185413 m. 187514 George DONALDSON d. 192715
Brother16 John17 S. H. YOUNG b. 185718 m. 192019 Florence Amy PARKINS d. 193320
Inmate Charlotte YOUNG b. 185821 m. 1875 (see below) d. 193822
Inmate Elizabeth YOUNG b. 186023 m. d. aft. 189624
Sister Susan YOUNG b. 186225 m. none - d.c. 1863
Sister Susan or Susannah YOUNG b. 186426 m. none - d. 188427
Half-sibling unnamed GEOGHAN b. 187028 m. d. aft. 1872
Half-sister Catherine Agnes GEOGHHAN b. 187429 m. 190230 James E. NELSON d. 191531
Description
Relationship Name Age Height Hair Eyes Complexion Build Distinguishing features
Grandmother Ellen McGOVERIN32 50 5' grey grey pale medium head; round visage; high forehead; small nose and mouth; small chin
Mother Elizabeth McGOVERIN33 16 4' 10½" brown grey fair round visage; high forehead; brown eyebrows, small nose and mouth; low chin
Aunt Bridget McGOVERIN34 25 4' 11½" black hazel fresh round head & visage ; low forehead; black eyebrows, small nose and mouth; round chin; scar on left cheek

Note: There is not believed to be any connection between the sisters Sarah and Charlotte YOUNG aka SMITH, and Charlotte Ann YOUNG alias SMITH and that the similar names and admission dates to Newcastle are just coincidence. These girls were all admitted to Newcastle within weeks of each other but the sisters were arrested in Sydney and the single admission was arrested in Penrith. Charlotte Ann is believed to be from a separate family and locality and not a third sister using an assumed name, such as Elizabeth whose birth was registered in 1860.35 Distinguishing between the two girls named Charlotte YOUNG or SMITH is very difficult as they were of a similar age. Further discussion of this issue appears below. There is a separate biography for Charlotte Ann YOUNG (2).

Sarah and Charlotte YOUNG aka SMITH, were arrested in Sydney in January 1870 by Sergeant GOLDRICK. No reports of their arrest have been found in the NSW Police Gazette so only the newspapers reported on the trial. GOLDRICK stated that Sarah and Charlotte had approached him at the Central Police Station telling him that they wished to give themselves up so they could be sent to Newcastle. The sisters declared that they had no parents and that for several nights they had been sleeping out at the racecourse. GOLDRICK believed them. He stated that he had known both girls for about two years when they lived with their mother who kept a brothel and who was then living with a man named SMITH.36

It is almost certain that GOLDRICK was one of the constables responsible for compiling the list of at risk children compiled for the government on 31 July 1867, a month before the Newcastle school opened and two years and five months before the girls were arrested. There is no doubt that the sisters were identified in that list as two of four sisters named by the constables. They were Sarah Ann YOUNG who was identified as a 12-year-old, nine-year-old Charlotte YOUNG, seven-year-old Elizabeth YOUNG and Susan YOUNG, who was only three. Births of the three younger girls appear on the NSW BDM Index and their ages on this 1867 list accurately reflected the ages of the registrations. The girls were Protestants and none had been arrested prior to 1867. The constables recorded:

father dead; mother married again to a man named “Smith” who is separated from his wife and is paying 8/- per week for her maintenance. He is a poor man earning a living by hawking fruit, the mother is a notorious drunkard, and keeps a disreputable house in Kent Street, these four children live with her.37

An witness identified as Mr THOMPSON stated that the girls had told him many lies. They said that they had been in service but they didn't mention that they had run away from it. Elizabeth GEOGHAN38 the girls' mother, appeared in court and gave evidence. She confirmed that Charlotte was eleven but stated that Sarah was currently 16 and would turn 17 'in March next', an age which did not match the age of the eldest girl provided by the police in 1867. Elizabeth stressed that she had not seen SMITH, who she claimed was her husband and the father of the girls, since December 1868 when he had left the family. Because she believed SMITH to be dead she had remarried and declared that she and her new husband were only able to support the eldest girl, Sarah.39

The court decided to send the sisters to Newcastle as it is considered quite likely that the magistrates considered Sarah to be at risk if left with her mother who had been known to keep a brothel. It is also likely that the constable's knowledge of family was considered more reliable than the information provided by the girls and their mother. Family details for Sarah and Charlotte were once recorded in the now missing section of the Entrance Book. As a result, information about their ages, trial locations, family, religion and educational details are unavailable from this source.

Compiling scattered newspaper reports, records from the NSW BDM Index and letters at SRNSW are needed to identify the YOUNG sisters. LUCAS's April 1872 list showed that Sarah and Charlotte were admitted to Newcastle on 4 January 187040 and these dates and accompanying ages of the sisters were confirmed in other school records, almost certainly copied from the details recorded in the Entrance Book. Sarah was nearly fifteen and her sister Charlotte was nearly twelve although she was admitted as a 13-year-old. There is very strong evidence to suggest that these details were taken from statements made by either Sarah or Charlotte at the time of admission41 as newspapers reported different ages for the girls.42

On 19 January 1870, two weeks after Sarah and Charlotte were admitted, a Charlotte A. YOUNG alias SMITH was also admitted to Newcastle after appearing before the Penrith Bench.43 It is likely but unable to be proved, that this girl had also been in service. To date no trial details or court appearance for any admission from Penrith or Parramatta has been located in newspapers so none details have been found of Charlotte's trial. It is very unlikely that this girl was connected to the sisters already in the school but it is clear that authorities at times did confuse the girls named Charlotte and further consideration of their differences and similarities appears in her biography below.

Both sisters transferred with the school to Biloela on Cockatoo Island in May 1871. By this date Sarah had been apprenticed so she was initially not recorded in the lists. She was to return to the school before it left Newcastle and left Biloela into the care of her mother in about July 1871. Charlotte was returned to her mother a year later in July 1872.

Family

Court appearances44 identify Sarah and Charlotte's mother as Elizabeth GEOGHAN or GEOGEGHAN.45 The Sydney constables had established that the famiy had lived in Sydney for at least July 186746 but prior to this date the family lived in Wollongong, south of Sydney. Charlotte and four of her siblings were born in Wollongong. Both sisters were daughters of John and Elizabeth YOUNG.

John YOUNG and Elizabeth McGOVERIN47 had married in Hobart, Tasmania, on 21 March 1853.48 Permission to Marry for the couple had been granted on 16 February 1853, and the record showed that Elizabeth tried in Cavan in 1848 and had been transported for seven years at the age of 1649 aboard the Lord Auckland (3), arriving on 20 January 1849. By this date John was free and if he had been transported his records are yet to be found.50 Elizabeth had received an earlier permission to marry Joseph DAVIS on 21 November 1851.51 The Lord Auckland (3) indent showed that Elizabeth had arrived with her older sister, Bridget McGOVERIN, and confirmed that their mother Ellen, had been transported aboard the Waverley. A marriage to YOUNG who was a Protestant, did not sit well with memebrs of the McGOVERIN family and at least one court appearance for assault occurred in 1859.52 Ellen was given permission to marry Roger HOWETH on 6 December 1853,53 and although no marriage has been absolutely confirmed, they likely married as Rodger HOWATH and Ellen McGOUGHLIN in Hobart on 9 April 1855. Bridget married John SEYMOUR in December 1852.54 Elizabeth's details recorded on her Tasmanian convict conduct report were confirmed on the 1860 NSW birth registration for her daughter, Elizabeth, showed that she had been born in County Cavan, Ireland, in about 1832.55

John and Elizabeth's first recorded daughter, Margaret, was born in Hobart, Tasmania, on 27 April 1854. Margaret was recorded as the second daughter of John YOUNG when she married in 1875.56 A registration or baptism for Margaret's older sister, Sarah, has not been located. When the couple left Tasmania for NSW is unknown but their son John was born in Wollongong in 1857. Elizabeth's birth registration in 1860 identified that John had been born in Northampton, England, and Elizabeth was from County Cavan, Ireland. John YOUNG was likely to have died in Kiama near Wollongong in 1867, but this registration has not been viewed. In 1867 Elizabeth YOUNG married Henry SMITH in Sydney.57

There is good evidence that Elizabeth had fabricated a past to hide her convict history but it is unknown whether the story told in court in 1870 was part of this fabrication. Little of her evidence during the trial was accurate. Elizabeth falsely identified SMITH as her daughter’ father and John YOUNG was almost certainly not an alias for Henry SMITH. Although the registrations have not been viewed, Elizabeth almost certainly married SMITH in 1867.58 He had left Elizabeth and her family in December 1868 and in court she declared that she believed that 'he' was dead. She further asserted that she had been married to her present husband last Easter Monday in a private house by a Roman Catholic priest.59 This statement refers to Bernard GEOGHEGAN the father of at least two more of Elizabeth's children, and is a further fabrication. Elizabeth did not marry Bernard GEOGHAN until 1872 – two years later. Appearances prior to 1866 are unlikely to refer to Elizabeth using the name GEOGHAN as there was a younger woman with this name also appearing in the court system.60

Only one court or gaol appearance has been absolutely confirmed for Elizabeth when in 1882 she was charged with cutting and wounding William STUBBLES and was listed for trial at the Quarter Sessions.61 She was released from Darlinghurst, probably after serving a term for this offence, in May 1884.62 In 1887, her husband, Bernard GEOGHAN, deserted her and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Elizabeth is located at this time at Mr Stanley HALL's, Milson's Point, North Shore.63 Elizabeth died in Sydney on 6 August 1895. The NSW BDM Index identified that her parents were James and Ellen.64 She was buried at Rookwood. Funeral Notices were placed by her children John and Charlotte and the SEYMOUR families.65 In Memoriam notices in the name of GEOHEGHEGAN were placed the following year BY her children Charlotte, John and Elizabeth.66

The family can be tied together using Family Notices in Trove. Margaret YOUNG had married George DONALDSON in 1875. She died in June 1927 and had formerly lived in Western Australia.67 The death of her husband, George DONALDSON in 1926, confirmed that he had been born in about 1843 and had formerly lived in WA.68 The sister Susan, born in 1862, who appeared in the constables' July 1867 list, was the second daughter of this name in this family.69 She died as Susannah YOUNG at her residence, the home of her brother-in-law, George DONALDSON,70 34 Chelsea Street, Redfern, on 25 July 1884.71 In Memoriam notices inserted two years later confirmed two of her sisters as Margaret the wife of George DONALDSON and Charlotte, the wife of Patrick KENNEALLY. Funeral Notices at the time of Susan's death also confirmed that her uncle was John SEYMOUR72 who was the husband of Elizabeth's sister Bridget McGOVERIN. When Bridget SEYMOUR died in September 1906 her Funeral Notices confirmed that Elizabeth's son John, was still alive and was married.73 Elizabeth was still alive in 1896 but it is unknown if she was married.74

The name and fate of one of the two known children who were born to Elizabeth and Bernard GEOGHEGHAN is still unknown. The identities of the two unnamed young birth registrations from 185775 and 187076 have not been undertaken.

Little is known of John YOUNG. It is believed that he had been transported to Tasmania but this has not been verified nor has his arrival date in NSW. He was in the Illawarra by March 185777 and in 1858 was described as a bricklayer.78 John was alive in March 1866 when he was involved in an assault when a neighbour in Fairy Meadow fired a gun at him. Evidence was given by his son John, his wife Elizabeth and his sister-in-law Bridget SEYMOUR.79 It is believed that his death was registered as John M. YOUNG at Kiama in 1867 where his mother was recorded as Margaret80 but this registration has not been viewed.

Charlotte YOUNG

Husband Patrick KENNEALLY b. m. 187581 d.
Daughter Susannah KENNELLY82 b. 187683 m. none - d. 187684
Daughter Charlotte KENNELLAY b. 187785 m. d.
Son James Joseph KENNELLY86 b. 187987 m. 1911 Mary Anne FLAHERTY88 d. 195489
Son Patrick Joseph KENNELLY b. 188090 m. 191291 Kathleen Mary A. O'CONNOR d. 193492
Daughter Elizabeth KENNEALLY b.c. 1882 m. none - d. 188393
Daughter Ruby F. KENNEALLY b. 188394 m. none - d.
Daughter Frances E. KENNEALLY b. 188595 m. none - d. 188496
Daughter Sarah M. KENNEALLY b. 188797 m. d.
Son John L. H. KENNEALLY b. 188998 m. none - d. 189099

Before her admission to Newcastle Charlotte had been in service with a Mrs GILPMAN but had run away after she had been let her out on Christmas Day and she didn't return. It is likely that this service had been arranged by her mother. Elizabeth had appeared in court where she had identified that Charlotte was eleven.100 Charlotte Young's birth had been registered in Woolongong in 1858 so she was closer to thirteen. The Biloela transfer list compiled in May 1871 from the then complete Entrance Book, recorded that Charlotte had been thirteen years and five months of age when she was admitted to Newcastle.101 Why Elizabeth made this error is unknown. Charlotte transferred to Biloela and was identified on LUCAS's letter to the Colonial Secretary on 23 June 1871, as eligible for service. This record is the only document where there is no distinction made between the two Charlottes. One was shown as fourteen and one was fifteen.102

It is unknown whether the following incidents refer to Charlotte, the other Charlotte or whether both Charlottes were responsible. Identification of the culprit will probably never be possible. One of the two Charlottes was mentioned by LUCAS in his report of 19 September 1871,103 to have been placed in No. 3 Dormitory on a bread and water diet for fourteen days for 'bathing in the river'104 with three other girls who were similarly punished.105 It may be that this same girl continued to rebel, as in his report on 20 November later that year, LUCAS reported that Charlotte YOUNG was one of seven girls106 who were 'confined in No. 3 Dormitory for the remainder of the day for holding conversation with some men in a boat cruising off the island.'107

The Entrance Book recorded the admission age of each of the YOUNG girls and this age was recorded on the Biloela transfer lists in May 1871. However, only the age of Charlotte YOUNG has been confirmed. The Entrance Book does not reflect the actual age of each girl where it is able to be found. The lists identified that Charlotte YOUNG was thirteen years and five months of age when she was admitted and Charlotte YOUNG alias Charlotte Ann SMITH was thirteen.108

This contradicted Elizabeth GEOGHAN's statement that the girl who was admitted first was only eleven when she was arrested. In his April 1872 list, also copied from the Entrance Book, albeit with some transcription errors and contradicting the Sydney newspaper report involving the arrest of the two sisters, identified no alias for the two.109 It is considered likely that the alias SMITH was not attached to their names in the Entrance Book as no record yet found attributed this surname to either girl. Charlotte A. YOUNG however, was almost always recorded with both surnames.

This record shows two things. It suggests strongly that LUCAS may have inadvertently confused the two girls although his paperwork seems to be correct. It may also suggest that he believed that Charlotte Ann YOUNG alias SMITH was the older child. Significantly, this record clearly indicated that the second admission, Charlotte Ann YOUNG alias SMITH, had not identified her mother when she was admitted to Newcastle. Whether she knew her sisters were at the school when she arrived cannot be ascertained but is not impossible. What is certain is that she would not have known the details that were recorded in the Entrance Book for either of the two other girls.

Charlotte was recorded as 'In the Institution' on LUCAS’s List in April 1872. At this stage her sister, Sarah, and the other Charlotte had been apprenticed by LUCAS so had left Biloela.110 On 28 May 1872, LUCAS sought and received permission to apprentice Charlotte to J. LANGMORE, Esq., of Gongolan111 for two years at a rate of two shillings for the first year and three shillings for the second year. Charlotte's date of admission to the school was confirmed as 4 January 1870, and she was reported to have been conducting herself well.112 This statement is no indication that she was not the girl involved in the incidents on the island as LUCAS routinely made this statement when he was applying for permission to discharge the girls. The Colonial Secretary gave permission but queried why the apprenticeship to SPROUL had not occurred. This apprenticeship was for the girl identified as Charlotte Ann YOUNG alias SMITH, and LUCAS responded identifying the two girls.113 The following day a petition from Elizabeth and Bernard GEOGHAN for the release of Charlotte was sent to the Colonial Secretary. While they did not name her, she was identified within the supporting documents they included. Elizabeth and Bernard stated:

We have heard that it is the intention of the authorities to send her to a situation up the country … we take this opportunity of beseeching you to return our beloved daughter to us.

Bernard signed but didn't write the petition as the handwriting differs and Elizabeth made her mark. The City Missionary, Nathaniel PIDGEON supported the petition and verified Charlotte's name. A request for police investigation was made and the police constable's report was not favourable. He wrote:

… for some previous to the girl being sent to the Industrial School the mother lived with and passed as the wife of one "Henry Smith" and at the time the child was taken from her "January 1870", she was cohabiting with a man named "Gegan." She then swore before the court that she was the wife of Gegan but I find now that she was only married to him on the 17th of last month. – "Gegan" hawks vegetables during the day and has an oyster stall and has an oyster stall on the corner of Bathurst and Elizabeth streets in the evenings he is a steady and industrious man … They occupy but two rooms in a house off Macquarie Street South and at present they have three of their children at home with them (viz) a girl about eighteen years of age a lad 16 and a child about two years. … The two oldest are only temporarily at home as they are about to leave, the girl to a situation and the boy to a trade where he will be apprenticed.

Both girls named Charlotte were identified as eligible for apprenticeship in LUCAS's list compiled in Biloela on 23 June 1871. LUCAS draws no distinction between the Charlottes. Both were recorded as Charlotte YOUNG. One was recorded as fourteen and one was fifteen.114 In response to a query from the Colonial Secretary who was responding to a petition by Elizabeth GEOGHAN in June 1872, requesting the return of her daughter Charlotte, LUCAS stated:

The girl Charlotte Young, alias Charlotte Ann Smith, aged thirteen years, parents unknown, was admitted into this institution from the Penrith Bench on the 19th January 1870 and was apprenticed 1st January last115
The girl Charlotte Young … was admitted from the Central Police Court, Sydney.116

Although the authorities wished Charlotte's apprenticeship to go ahead, she was ultimately returned to her mother by 4 July 1872. On 31 March 1875, in Sydney, Charlotte married Patrick KENNEALLY in the Presbyterian Church, Pitt-street, Sydney. Charlotte told James FULLERTON, the senior minister, that she was over twenty-one and old enough to marry without her parents’ permission but after the marriage occurred, Elizabeth GEOGHAN, wife of Bernard GEOGHAN, of Pitt-street, stated that Charlotte was her daughter by a former husband and that she was under twenty-one. Elizabeth further stated that she had visited Patrick at his father's house in Arthur Street and told him she wouldn’t give permission for the marriage. When the marriage went ahead, Elizabeth took Patrick117 and the witness, David ANDREWS,118 to court. During the trial, copies of the registrations of Charlotte’s birth and her marriage were produced. As these documents proved in court that Charlotte was seventeen, this marriage had to be the girl who married irrespective of her name at death. It seems very likely that if she actually was Elizabeth undertaking this marriage that her mother would have used this information in court. Charlotte's birth registration indicated that she was born in Wollongong, on 31 May 1858. A check of the actual birth date on the NSW BDM Index confirmed that this was the birth registration for Charlotte YOUNG.119 The result of the Quarter Sessions case is dramatically outlined in the Clarence River Herald where it is reported in a sensational way and entitled “A Love Affair.”120 Charlotte was in court

supporting her husband in the "hour of tribulation." A plea of guilty was entered ; but the case was opened by Mr Forster, the Crown Prosecutor, in a manner so favourable to the accused that the plea was withdrawn, and one of not guilty entered. It came out in evidence that much good, in a public and private sense, had resulted from the marriage. Mr Buchanan, who was in the court at the time, suggested that the accused might be rewarded for his courage in marrying.121 His Honor said the case was not of a serious character and fined the defendant 5s., and ordered that he be imprisoned till the fine was paid. This announcement was applauded. Defendant had not the amount on him, and his Honor seeing the difficulty, inquired whether there was any friend in court who would relieve the defendant from his difficulties. Then the defendant's attorney started off through the court with hat in hand. No one responded but, strange to say a police officer. The fine was then paid, and the pair left the court ; he to rush into the arms of his mother-in-law, and she into the arms of her step-father who were waiting outside the court.

The marriage was registered under the name of KENNELLEY on the NSW BDM Index. Subsequent births were registered as either KENNELLEY or KENNEALLY and this is the spelling of the surname that is most commonly used. Patrick was the man, a bootmaker, who was ordered to pay thirty shillings a week for a year for the maintenance of his wife, Charlotte KENNEALLY, in the Redfern Police Court on 28 November 1884.122 As he didn’t pay, he was arrested under warrant and appeared again in the Redfern Court on 9 January 1885, when he was ordered to be imprisoned for twelve months or until he did so.123 He must have returned to Charlotte as births of further children were subsequently registered. Patrick's death has not been identified. While some online trees suggest that he died in 1903, newspaper accounts for this death indicate that this man was 79.124

Patrick and Charlotte reconciled and moved to Western Australia in 1901.125 Their son James, became a unionist. He was eventually elected as a member of Parliament and was the WA Minister for Industries. By 1934 Charlotte was living at 18 Vincent Street, Highgate Hill. She died in Mt Lawley, Western Australia, on 5 December 1938,126 and was buried in Karrakatta Catholic Cemetery. She was recorded in Funeral Notices and in her obituary as Charlotte Elizabeth KENNEALLY. Her obituary confirmed that she had been born in Wollongong, NSW, and recorded that she was unselfish, active in the Labor movement and a worker for the relief of the poor.127

Sarah YOUNG

Husband Joseph POWELL b. 1851128 m. 1875129 d. 1918130
Son Edward J. POWELL b. 1876131 m. none - d. 1876132
Son Joseph Beck133 POWELL b. 1877134 m. none - d. 1879135
Daughter Emily POWELL b. 1880136 m. 1899137 Robert W. CARMICHAEL d. 1959138
Son Edmund George POWELL b. 1877139 m. none - d. 1881140
Daughter Martha POWELL b. 1882141 m. none - d. 1950142
Daughter Sarah Ann POWELL b. 1883143 m. 1905144 Frank RALPH145 d. 1954146
Son Alfred S. POWELL b. 1885147 m. none - d. 1888148
Daughter May Sarah POWELL b. 1887149 m. 1908150 James W. (Jim)151 FROST d. 1958152
Son Charles S. POWELL b. 1889153 m. none - d. 1889154
Daughter Lucy Edith POWELL b. 1890155 m. 1913156 Alfred J. H. ELLIOTT d. 1960157
Daughter Margaret POWELL b. 1892158 m. none - d. 1892159
Son Arthur Armstrong POWELL b. 1893160 m. 1917 Clara MAHER d. 1946161
Daughter Elsie M. POWELL b. 1896162 m. Edward163 d.
Son Norman S. POWELL b. 1898164 m. none - d. 1917165

Sarah was reported to be the eldest daughter of Elizabeth YOUNG aka GEOGHAN aka SMITH. At the time of both her marriage and death she was identified as a native of Tasmania. A Tasmanian registration has been located for her sister, Margaret, who had been born there in 1854 but none has been found for Sarah. It is possible that she may have been illegitimate but no record has been found using her mother's maiden name. It is likely that the court did not believe that the ages provided by either the girls or their mother were correct as so many lies were apparently told there. Records associated with Sarah's stay in Newcastle identified that she had been born in about 1855.166 She must have been older than this to be older than Margaret. In January 1870 her mother made statements that Sarah was going to be “seventeen years of age next March”167 and this is ensured her admission to Newcastle as she was almost certainly recorded in the Newcastle records as a fifteen-year-old. If Sarah was the oldest child of Elizabeth and John, a birth year of 1854 makes her the same age or younger than Margaret. In light of correspondence from Elizabeth dating from 1872, Sarah's age was considerably understated168 and her year of birth ould have been as early as 1850. There is no doubt that Sarah was illegally admitted under the act but her mother's reasons to ensure her admission to Newcastle may have been with Sarah's welfare in mind. There is no doubt that she was over the age of 16 in January 1870 and may have been as old as 18 or 19 at that date.

In July 1867 she was living with her mother but at the time of her arrest she was in service so it is believed possible that in June 1869, some months before her admission to Newcastle, she was the Sarah Ann YOUNG who took Ann DALY to court for abusive words.169 She may also have been the woman responsible for the theft of a money box from Joseph CLARKE in November 1869.170 As Sarah SMITH, a servant, she may have been the girl mentioned in the Police Gazette, in a case of robbery from her master. The gazette stated that she was about fourteen years of age and “is supposed to be living with her mother in a lane off Castlereagh Street”. No warrant was issued.171

On 27 January 1871, CLARKE arranged a two-year apprenticeship for Sarah with Mr Joseph WOODCOCK of Dempsey Island, Hunter River, as a nurse maid. She was to be paid five shillings a week for the first year and six shillings a week for the second year. Permission was granted by the Colonial Secretary but unfortunately WOODCOCK decided to move into the town to operate a shop and CLARKE decided that the apprenticeship would be unwise as he considered that "the girl would have a fair chance in such a town as Newcastle."172 He sought permission to apprentice Sarah instead to J. T. WILSHIRE, Esq., of Scone, under the same terms. She was sent to Scone on 21 February 1871, shortly before the school transferred to Biloela, but for some unidentified reason, Sarah was returned to Newcastle by WILSHIRE in time for the transfer. The readmission date is confusing as it was recorded as April 1870, rather than April 1871.173 Sarah's name and the age of sixteen, are pencilled onto the transfer lists just before the move to Biloela was made.174 Sarah was listed by LUCAS in a letter on 23 June 1871, written to the Colonial Secretary as eligible for service.175 Her age in this letter is again recorded as sixteen. Attempts were made by LUCAS to apprentice her to James KINGSBURY, Esq., an accountant on the Fitzroy Dock, but this was disallowed by the Colonial Secretary as by this stage Elizabeth senior had written stating that Sarah was "considerably over 18 years of age."

The Act makes no reference as to proof of age being requisite ; and in this case the girl was, as her mother states, born in the Colony of Tasmania.176

Although the record dates Sarah's discharge occurred before April 1872,177 she was released to her parents sometime after 5 July as this was the date of LUCAS's letter acknowledging the instructions for Sarah's release.178

Sarah married Joseph POWELL in Sydney in early 1875. No parents were recorded for either of the parties and as the registration had already been updated from the original Elizabeth Street Presbyterian church register, none will be recorded anywhere. Edward POWELL, possibly Joseph's brother, and Sarah's sister Charlotte, were witnesses179 and it was almost certainly this marriage to which Charlotte referred when she appeared in court after her marriage. Fourteen children were recorded to the couple but sadly only half survived infancy. Joseph and Sarah remained in Sydney where Joseph died on 26 July 1918,180 at his residence 39 Terry Street, Marrickville. His parents were recorded on the NSW BDM Index as Joseph and Mary J.181 Sarah died on 7 April 1926, at the age of seventy182 as the result of a fall. An inquest was held.183 Her parents at the time of her death were confirmed as John and Elizabeth and her age matched those of the girl who was admitted to Newcastle. She was buried in Waverley Church of England Cemetery with her husband, Joseph. The grave has a memorial to her son Norman Sydney who was killed in action in France in 1917.184

Updated January 2021

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