People Australia

Thomas O'Brien was a marine in the 32nd (Portsmouth) Company when he arrived at Sydney aboard the Scarborough in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet. He served in Captain James Campbell's Company at Port Jackson.

Deciding to settle, O'Brien was granted 60 acres at Phillipsburg, Norfolk Island, in November 1791. In June 1794 he was living with Susanna Mortimer and three children. In 1805 he was listed as a first class settler with a wife and seven children. With his wife and eight children he left Norfolk Island for Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) aboard the City of Edinburgh in September 1808, settling on 100 acres at New Town. He held 60 acres at Glenorchy in 1813.

It is not known where or when O'Brien died. He was recorded in the 1819 Muster but not afterwards so it is thought that he died around this time.

information from

• Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 267
• Judith Adams, 'FF Thomas O'Brien Marine "Scarborough"', Fellowship of First Fleeters website, http://www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au/thomasobrien.htm — accessed 31 March 2021