People Australia

Joseph Wright (1767-1811) was found guilty on 26 May 1784 at the Old Bailey, London, of stealing from a building 218 lbs of lead worth forty shillings. Sentenced to seven years transportation to Africa he was sent to the Censor hulk on 6 September 1784 and on 24 February 1787 embarked on the Scarborough for Sydney, arriving in January 1788 as part of the First Fleet.

Wright married married Eleanor Gott on 13 December 1790 and the next year was granted 30 acres of land at Mulgrave Place. In 1800 he had 13 acres of wheat sown and 13 acres maize to be sown and owned 9 pigs. For health reasons he sold the land and worked as a farmhand for Edward Shipley. He returned to the land shortly thereafter, buying 20 acres of land in the Hawkesbury area from Owen Cavanough. He continued to struggle to make a living.

Sources
Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 395