People Australia

Esther Harwood/Howard (c.1751-1789), an oyster seller, was found guilty on 30 August 1786 at the Old Bailey, London, of the theft of a silver watch, keys and money from a man with whom she had been drinking at an inn. Sentenced to 7 years transportation she arrived in Sydney in January 1788 aboard the Lady Penrhyn as part of the First Fleet. 

Howard married John Randall, an African American, on 21 February 1788. They shared a hut with John Moseley, who was also black. Esther Howard was buried on 11 October 1789 at Sydney.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p p 165