People Australia

George Atkinson, a chimney sweeper, was sentenced, on 21 April 1784 at the Old Bailey, London, to seven years transportation for the theft of clothing from a lodging house. He remained on the Censor hulk until embarking on the Scarborough for Sydney in February 1878 as part of the First Fleet. He was sent to Norfolk Island on the Sirius on 4 March 1790. By 1792 he was living with Mary Wade on an allotment at Queenborough with 46 rods cleared, and shared a cow with her and Thomas Howard.

On March 1793 Atkinson left Norfolk Island for Port Jackson on the Kitty. He worked as a seaman before becoming a partner with Thomas White in the sloop Revenge in 1811. In 1814 his occupation was given as police constable — he was dismissed in June 1815 for improper conduct and gross neglect of duty. In 1822 his occupation was given as mariner and in 1828 he was described as a waterman living in Sydney. His burial on 20 June 1834 is registered as John Atkins. He was described as a labourer, aged 69, of Gloucester Street, Sydney.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 14