People Australia

Ann Yeomans was found guilty on 12 September 1787 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing a linen frock worth one shilling and a silk ribbon worth sixpence. Sentenced to 7 years transportation, she was sent to Newgate Gaol until she embarked for New South Wales on the Lady Juliana in March 1789 as part of the Second Fleet.

Yeomans was sent to Norfolk Island on the Surprize in August 1790. In July 1791 she was recorded as sharing a pig with First Fleet convict William Blackhall; the couple married in one of the mass wedding ceremonies held on the island in November 1791. In 1794 they were recorded as childless; they lived on a small farm at Sydney Town. By 1796 they leased 34 acres on the South East side of the island and William was also working as a sawyer. 

The couple were among the last to leave Norfolk Island for Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), departing on the Lady Nelson in January 1813; they were still childless. William Blackhall was granted 40 acres of land at Norfolk Plains which he worked until 1824. He had retired on an annual pension of £12.10s after working for the government for 18 years as an overseer of sawyers. Following his death in 1827 Ann petitioned for the continuance of her husband's pension stating that she was 65 and so infirm that she was unable to provide for herself.

No further records have been found for Ann Blackall or Yeomans.

* information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), p 633