People Australia

Joseph Bishop (c.1763-c.1825) was found guilty on 10 December 1783 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing seven handkerchiefs. Sentenced to 7 years transportation he embarked for America on the Mercury on 30 March 1784. Bishop was among those recaptured after a convict mutiny on the ship and was sent to the Dunkirk hulk. He arrived in Sydney in January 1788 aboard the Friendship as part of the First Fleet.

Bishop married Ann Dring on 13 November 1790. By 1792 he was settled at The Ponds on 50 acres. By 1802 they were off stores with 20 acres cleared. In 1806 he was living alone (his wife having died) on 44 acres at The Ponds. He had sold his farm by 1814 and in 1822 was recorded as a labourer. No burial record has been found for him but a John Bishop, whose identity is uncertain, died in August 1825 at Parramatta.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 36