People Australia

William Tyrrell (c.1759-1827) and William Hanford were found guilty on 1 March 1785 at Winchester, Hampshire, of cutting and stealing 160 pounds of lead from a Crown building. Sentenced to 7 years transportation, he was sent to the Ceres hulk, 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.

Tyrrell married Ann Ward on 6 April 1788 at Port Jackson; they had a son George who was baptised in 179o. Tyrrell was granted 30 acres at Eastern Farms (Kissing Point) in 1792. By mid-1800 he had eight acres cleared, three acres sown in wheat, with five ready for planting maize. The household was off stores.

Following the death of his wife in 1804, Tyrrell lived with Ann Sandell; they had four children. In January 1810 He suffered bad luck on his farm. Lightning struck his house, scorching and partly paralysing Ann Sandall. A barn containing next year's wheat seed was also struck and went up in fire. The Sydney Gazette reported that this was the third time Tyrrell's house and everything he had had been destroyed by fire and that he was now 'reduced to extreme distress'. 

Tyrell's 60 acre grant, dwelling house and sheepshed were offered for sale by James Squire on 24 May 1817. In 1820 he held 20 acres by purchase. Listed as carpenter in 1821, his son Thomas, born in 1814, was admitted to the Male Orphan School in 1821. Tyrell was listed as a labourer in 1825, and as a carpenter when he died on 25 June 1827 at Sydney; his age was given as 68.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 365