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Owen Cavanough (1762–1841)

Owen Cavanough was an able seaman aboard the Sirius which sailed into Botany Bay as part of the First Fleet in January 1788. He was stranded at Norfolk Island after the Sirius was wrecked in 1790 and returned to Sydney on the Supply in February 1791. Discharged from HMS Sirius' books, he returned to Norfolk island on the Supply as a settler in March 1791. He was granted 60 acres of land at Cascade Stream, Philipsburg. He married Margaret Darnell in a mass wedding ceremony on the island in November 1791.

The couple and their children left the island on the Francis in July 1796. They settled at Ebenezer, New South Wales. Cavanough was drowned on 27 November 1841 at Colo. He was interred at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, on ground he gave to the church.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), pp 67-68 and HMS Sirius 1786-1790 website https://hmssirius.com.au/owen-cavanough-able-seaman-hms-sirius-1788-and-margaret-darling-convict-prince-of-wales-1788/

Citation details

'Cavanough, Owen (1762–1841)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/cavanough-owen-17290/text32911, accessed 29 March 2024.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Life Summary [details]

Alternative Names
  • Cavenaugh, Owen
  • Cavenor, Owen
Birth

20 June, 1762
Gosport, Hampshire, England

Death

27 November, 1841 (aged 79)
New South Wales, Australia

Cause of Death

drowned

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