People Australia

Joseph Marshall (c.1754-1819) was found guilty on 21 April 1784 at the Old Bailey, London, of receiving stolen goods — 22 yards of printed cotton. Sentenced to 14 years transportation he was sent to the Censor hulk in September 1784 and embarked for New South Wales on the Scarborough in February 1787, arriving in the colony in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Marshall married Elizabeth Cole at Port Jackson on 13 February 1788. Suffering from his ill treatment Elizabeth had requested to live apart from Marshall by mid June. On 21 July 1788 Marshall and William Bell received 50 lashes for making a riot at night and striking Charles Peat and John Bazely.

Mashall worked at the brick kiln and was made a nightwatchman in August 1789. He was granted 30 acres at The Ponds in 1791 in partnership with Edward Elliott but the superintendent described him as slovenly and dilatory as a farmer. By mid 1800 Marshall was recorded as living alone on his grant, with no land cultivated and no stock. He was still living alone on his grant in 1806 and had nearly cleared all 30 acres.

In 1795 Marshall was charged, with five other men, of gang raping Mary Hartley. The men were found not guilty but were detained and tried for assault. They were found guilty on 25 April. Marshall was sentenced to 500 lashes.

Marshall was working as a labourer at Parramatta in 1814 and was buried in that locality on 2 January 1819, his age was given as 62.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 237