People Australia

Joseph Harrison (c.1774- ) arrived at Sydney in January 1788 with his convict mother Mary Harrison aboard the Lady Penrhyn as part of the First Fleet. He was placed as a servant to John Smith in February 1788.

In February 1789 Harrison went (without his mother) to Norfolk Island on the Supply. He worked as a labourer on the island until returning to Port Jackson on the Kitty in 1793. It is then thought that he signed on to one of the local vessels, probably the Francis, as a seaman. He is recorded as returning to Norfolk Island in June 1794 'where his mother lives'. No further colonial records have been found for Joseph Harrison.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 163