People Australia

George Wilkinson (c.1761-1815)  mariner, was baptised on 30 July 1761 at St Thomas' Church of England, Stockton-on-Tees, Durham, England. Employed by the East India Co. he arrived in Sydney in July 1798 on the Britannia as a mariner. He married (1) Mary Ann (-1797); and (2) Sarah Coleman (1774-1853) at St John's Church, Parramatta.

George was originally an officer of the East India Company and in 1796 became Captain of the Isabella on a voyage from England to India. For twelve years he travelled as a crew member on boats taking supplies to the Australian colonies. In 1811 he successfully petitioned Governor Macquarie, through his Captain Andrew Barclay, on behalf of himself and crew members of the Indian for permission to settle in NSW. In 1811 he placed an advertisement in the Sydney Gazette advising he would be leaving on the Eliza and wished to pay all outstanding debts. His name appears on the crew list of the sloop Eliza which arrived in Sydney on 15 May 1815 from Van Diemens Land and which was shortly afterwards wrecked in Torres Strait. It is assumed that George was lost at sea and that the granite slab dated 15 May 1815 at St John's Parramatta is his memorial.