People Australia

John Leary (c.1762- ), and five other men including Joseph Morley, Francis Garland and Henry Roach, were found guilty on 3 March 1783 at Winchester, Southampton, of highway robbery. Their death sentences were commuted to 7 years transportation on 21 April 1783. Leary was sent to the Censor hulk, where he remained until he embarked for New South Wales on the Scarborough in February 1787, arriving in Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Leary married Mary Jackson on 20 February 1788. After she charged him with beating her in August 1788 they were separated for a while.

Leary was included in the list of names, drawn up in December 1791, of people who had absconded during that year before their time was up. His sentence would have expired by April 1790.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 216