People Australia

Edward Garth was found guilty on 8 December 1784 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing two cows. His death sentence was commuted to seven years transportation. He served time on the Ceres hulk before arriving in Sydney in January 1788 aboard the Scarborough as part of the First Fleet. Immediately on arrival Garth was among those chosen to settle at Norfolk Island. They left on the Supply on 14 February 1788. By July 1791 Garth was supporting three people (Susannah Gough and their daughter Mary Anne) on two acres of land; the couple married in November 1791.

On 6 July 1789 Garth had been ordered 100 lashes for the theft of thee quarts of wheat out of a bag. By 1805 he had become a second class settler and had 6 children; 14 of his 30 acres were cultivated and he had 31 swine. Garth left Norfolk Island with his family for Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on the Porpoise in late December 1807. He later had extensive holdings at Clarence Plains, Queenborough and Brown's River. He died at his farm at Sandy Bay on 13 December 1823. His burial was registered at St David's, Hobart; his age was given as 55.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), pp 139-40