People Australia

Hannah Mullens (1759-1822), a domestic servant, was found guilty on 26 April 1786 at the Old Bailey, London, of attempting to get the wages and pay of a deceased seaman by a forged will. Her death sentence was commuted to life transportation on 4 January 1787. Mullens arrived at Sydney, with her young daughter Mary, aboard the Lady Penrhyn, in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

As Ann Mullan she married Charles Peat on 22 February 1788 at Sydney Cove; they had at least eight children. By 1801 Charles had gone to England with one of their sons; Hannah was recorded as a settler at Port Jackson. She held a small lease in her own name at Sydney, owning one goat, and with four people living off stores. In 1806 she was recorded as living with Abraham Gordon. She was probably the Mrs Susannah Peat recorded as about to leave the colony with Charles, and William Peat 'a youth', in May 1812.

She was buried (as Johanna Peat) on 14 April 1822 at Chandernagore, West Bengal, India.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), pp 256-57