People Australia

John Brindley (c.1760-1825) was found guilty on 21 March 1785 at Warwick, England, of assault and robbery. His death sentence was commuted to 7 years transportation. Sent to the Justitia hulk, he arrived in Sydney in January 1788 aboard the Alexander as part of the First Fleet.

Brindley was sent to Norfolk Island on the Sirius in March 1790. By July 1791 he was supporting himself on a Queenborough lot and shared a sow with John Bayliss and John Walker. He was granted 12 acres at Morgan's Run in May 1792 but returned to Port Jackson on the Kitty in March 1793.

Brindley was granted 30 acres of land in the Hawkesbury area in November 1794. In 1798 he conveyed his grant to John Stogdell, who was an agent for John Palmer, and remained on the farm as a tenant of Palmer. By mid 1800 Brindley was supporting himself on the farm and lived alone. In 1806 he cultivated 16 acres in grain, with a quarter acre of garden and orchard. Nearly 14 acres were pasture; no family was recorded.

From 1820 Brindley worked as a constable at Sydney gaol. He was still there in May 1824. In September 1825 he was listed as deceased. No burial record has been found. A John Brenly was buried at Sydney on 11 July 1825; his age was given as 54.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 49