People Australia

William Parr was found guilty on 27 January 1785 at the Liverpool Quarter Sessions, England, of cheating a shopkeeper out of some money. Sentenced to 7 years transportation he was sent to the Justitia hulk in March 1786 where he remained until he embarked for New South Wales on the Alexander in January 1787, arriving in Sydney in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Parr married Mary McCormack on 10 February 1788. Theirs was the first European marriage recorded in the colony; as they both came from Liverpool it is possible they had known each other in England, perhaps in prison.

Parr was sentenced t0 200 lashes on 6 May 1788 after a court of inquiry on John Easty concerning provisions: Parr was employed in issuing provisions from the stores. On 12 April 1790 he was again sentenced to 200 lashes, this time for the theft of a pumpkin from Edward Humphreys; he said he was driven to it by hunger.

Parr was granted 50 acres at the Northern Boundary Farms in 1791.

There are no further records for either William or Mary Parr after 1792. It is likely that the couple returned to England.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 276