People Australia

John Hayes (c.1763- ) was a marine in the 27th (Plymouth) Company when he arrived at Sydney aboard the Alexander as part of the First Fleet. He served in Captain James Meredith's Company at Port Jackson.

Hayes was sent to Norfolk Island on the Supply in June 1789. He received a 60 acre grant at Queenborough Run which he sold to D'Arcy Wentworth in November 1794. Hayes married Charlotte Ware in a mass wedding ceremony on the island in November 1791. The couple left Norfolk Island on the Daedalus in November 1794 for Port Jackson where Hayes joined the New South Wales Corps. On 23 March 1796 he received another grant of 60 acres at Norfolk Island. He was discharged from the NSW Corps on 10 October 1799. A 600 acre grant at Toongabbie, shared with Thomas Chipp, was sold by them to Joseph Foveaux before the official grant was registered.

John Hayes returned to England on the Buffalo in August 1800. He worked his passage back as an able seaman. His wife Charlotte remained in the colony.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 168