People Australia

Joseph McAlden (c.1755-1836) was a marine in the 23rd (Portmouth) Company when he arrived at Sydney in Alexander in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet. He served in Captain John Shea's Company at Port Jackson.

McAlden was sent to Norfolk Island on the Supply in June 1789 and had settled there by February 1792 on Lot no 66. By October 1793 he had cultivated 25 of 54 ploughable acres. He left Norfolk Island in 1794 and joined the New South Wales Corps, returning to Norfolk Island. Discharged in July 1799 he returned to Port Jackson.

McAlden had rented a farm at Mulgrave Place in 1800. By 1802 he was off stores, holding 22 acres at Mulgrave Place by purchase. Three years later, still single, he held 25 acres by purchase. A landholder at Richmond for many years thereafter, he married Margaret Quin on 2 August 1811.

McAlden was recorded as a farmer, aged 70 in the 1828 Census, living at Richmond. He held 30 acres, 25 of them cultivated. He was buried at St Peter's, Richmond, on 10 May 1836; his age was given as 96 but was probably incorrect.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 227