People Australia

Stephen Mullis, a caulker, and John Basely, a mariner, were found guilty on 12 January 1785 at Exeter, Devon, of stealing one claret colour cloth coat and one pair of black breeches. They were sent to the Dunkirk hulk while waiting to serve their 7 year sentence of transportation. They arrived in Sydney in January 1788 aboard the Charlotte as part of the First Fleet.

From July to September 1788 he worked as a caulker on the Sirius at Sydney Cove. He later worked on other ships. He does not appear on records after 1791. It is likely that he returned to England when his sentence expired in January 1792. As a caulker it would have been easy for him to get a job on board a ship.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 257