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Elizabeth Fisher (1780–1842)

Elizabeth Gregory sailed with her convict mother, Sarah, aboard the Lady Juliana, which landed in Sydney in June 1790 as part of the Second Fleet. The pair, with Elizabeth's father, Thomas Gregory, were sent to Norfolk Island in August 1790 aboard the Surprize. In July 1791 she was sexually assaulted by First Fleet marine Henry Wright. Found guilty of the crime, Major Robert Ross sentenced Wright to run the gauntlet of all the men and women in the settlement on 18 July as a kind of ritual humiliation in which he was probably beaten as he ran. He underwent the same punishment on 2 August. 

From at least 1798 Elizabeth lived with Edward Fisher; they were married on 26 July 1802. In December 1807 the family moved to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) aboard the Porpoise, leaving behind a 33 acre farm. They were granted land at Sandy Bay, Hobart, where they are commemorated by Fisher's Ave. By 1819 they had 85 acres.

Elizabeth Fisher died at Sandy Bay on 11 July 1842.

* information from Michael Flynn, The Second Fleet: Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993), p302

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Citation details

'Fisher, Elizabeth (1780–1842)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/fisher-elizabeth-29939/text37076, accessed 29 April 2025.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Life Summary [details]

Alternative Names
  • Gregory, Elizabeth
Birth

1780
Hertford, Hertfordshire, England

Death

11 July, 1842 (aged ~ 62)
Sandy Bay, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Cause of Death

lung disease

Cultural Heritage

Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.

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Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.

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