People Australia

William Johnson (c.1762- ) and John Ramsay were found guilty on 24 March 1784 at Battersea, Surrey, of the highway assault and theft of silver shoe buckles, knee buckles, two handkerchiefs, two muslin stocks and two shillings. The men's death sentences were commuted to 7 years transportation. Sent to the Justitia hulk, they were dispatched to the Scarborough in February 1787 and arrived at Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Johnson's was mustered on board the Scarborough and there is no record of Johnson's death during the voyage. He does not, however, appear in the victualling list for 1788 at Port Jackson. He may have been one of the 11 men who were reported to have absconded in the first few days after landing. Many seemed to have believed that would be able to walk to China.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 196