People Australia

Samuel Hussey (c.1755-1808) was found guilty on 3 March 1784 of the theft of a black colt and a gelding. His death sentence was commuted to 7 years transportation to America. Hussey was among the prisoners who mutinied on the convict transport Mercury in April 1784. Recaptured, he was sent to the Dunkirk hulk in June 1784. He was discharged to the Friendship in March 1787 and arrived in Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Hussey was sent to Norfolk Island on the Golden Grove in January 1788. He quickly developed a garden and by November 1791 had been appointed a constable. By July 1791 he had cleared 85 rods of a two acre Sydney Town lot. He was settled on 12 acres at Arthur's Vale in November 1791. He married Ann Hughes at a mass wedding ceremony on the island in November 1791.

By October 1793 Hussey had six acres in cultivation and was renting a further five acres the following year. Ten acres of William Moulton's grant were turned over to Hussey in March 1796. In August 1807 he held 37 acres. Hussey and his wife left Norfolk Island for Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) with a servant on the Lady Nelson in November 1807. He was regarded as 'a very industrious man'.

Inexplicably, within five months of landing at VDL, Hussey committed suicide by hanging himself at Sandy Bay on 17 April 1808.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), pp 186-87