Founders, Mariners, Exiles & Eora of Early New South Wales (1783–1796): First Fleet & Colonial Biographical Dictionary – Searchable PDF & Surname Index

Discover the people behind the voyages, settlements, hardships, and encounters of early New South Wales. This collection from Fairbairn’s Crest brings together 220 biographical entries exploring the lives of convicts, mariners, colonial officials, surgeons, settlers, and Indigenous people connected with this formative period.

Covering 1783–1796, the collection reaches from British courts and departure ports to Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, Parramatta, the Hawkesbury River, and Norfolk Island. Its subjects include people associated with the First Fleet, later arrivals, and figures involved in planning and administering the colony.

Read about familiar names such as Arthur Phillip, Woolarawarre Bennelong, William Dawes, Elizabeth Macarthur, and Matthew Flinders alongside less familiar people whose experiences appear in transportation records, shipboard lists, colonial journals, and land returns. The collection also includes Barangaroo, Arabanoo, Pemulwuy, and other Indigenous figures whose lives intersected with British colonization.

Whether you are investigating a family name or exploring Australian history, these concise accounts offer a way into the personal stories behind the records.

What the biographies reveal

• Origins, occupations, convictions, and transportation where recorded.
• Naval and Marine service, shipboard experiences, and colonial appointments.
• Family relationships, marriages, aliases, and alternative name spellings.
• Emancipation, farming, land grants, and settlement.
• Indigenous experiences and encounters with colonial authorities.
• Connections between people, ships, and places.

The depth of each account varies with the available evidence. Some entries are brief record summaries; others provide longer narrative sketches. These are concise biographies rather than full-length life histories.

What’s included

• 220 alphabetically arranged biographical entries.
• An 88-page searchable PDF.
• A historical introduction and explanation of the editorial approach.
• A spelling concordance to help identify alternative names.
• Source citations and notes discussing differences between records.
• Supporting indexes covering surnames, places, ships, military units, and colonial establishments.

How to explore the collection

Browse the alphabetical biographies or use Ctrl+F on Windows / Cmd+F on Mac to search for a name, vessel, or settlement. Try alternative spellings from the concordance when a name does not appear immediately. The supporting indexes help connect related entries, while citations provide starting points for further research.

Historical records can disagree about names, dates, and personal details. Use the collection as a research aid and confirm genealogical conclusions against original records.

What you are purchasing

You are purchasing the compiled biographical collection in PDF format, including its introduction, citations, and supporting indexes.

Original source books are not included. Digital download only. No physical book will be shipped.

Complete biography list

Edward Abbott, Mary Abbott, Esther Abrahams (alias Julian), Thomas Acres, Mary Adams, Charles Allen, Augustus Theodore Henry Alt, John Turnipseed Altree, John Anderson, Arabanoo, John Archer, Thomas Arndell, Richard Atkins, Rev. James Bain, Henry Lidgbird Ball, William Balmain, Sir Joseph Banks, Elizabeth Bannister, Barangaroo, William Barnes, Thomas Barrett, George Barrington (né Waldron), George Bass, Thomas Bates, John Baughan, John Bazeley, Elizabeth Beckford, James Belbin, Woolarawarre Bennelong, John Berrisford (Beresford), Elizabeth Bingham, Joseph Bishop, David Blackburn, James Bloodworth, Sophia Bolt, Boorong (Abaroo), Arthur Bowes Smyth, James Bradley, William Bradley, Curtis Brand, Henry Brewer, Richard Brown, William Brown (Charlotte convict), William Brown (Alexander convict), Mary Bryant (née Broad), William Bryant, Patrick Burn, Joseph Butler, William Butler, John Caesar (Black Caesar), James Callam, James Campbell, Joseph Carver, James Castles, James Clark (Scarborough convict), James Clark (Friendship convict), Ralph Clark, William Clarke (Clark), Colebee, David Collins, William Collins, Dennis Considen, Philip Champion de Crespigny, Daniel Creswell, John Cropper, James Cunningham, William Curtis, Thomas Daveney, Thomas Davey, Ann Davis (alias Judith Jones), Frances Davis, William Dawes, William Dawson, George Denis (Dennis), Henry Edward Dodd, James Dodding, Stephen Donovan, Jane Dundas, Thomas Eccles (alias Earth), George Eggleston, William Elliott, William Faddy, Philip Farrell, Matthew Flinders, John Foley, Joseph Foveaux, Newton Fowell, James Freeman, James Furzer, Joseph Gerrald, William Gerrard, Thomas Gilbert, Thomas Glenton, Colonel Robert Jacob Gordon, John Gowen, Francis Grose, Henry Hacking, Abraham Hand, John Harris (Scarborough convict), John Harris (surgeon), John Herbert, William Hill, Susannah Holmes (married Kable), John Hunter, Ann Inett, Benjamin Ingram, John Irving (alias John Anderson or Lawson), Thomas Jamison, Rev. Richard Johnson, George Johnston, Thomas Jones (Marine), Thomas Jones (Alexander convict), Henry Kable (Cable), Herbert Keeling, Robert Kellow, Thomas Kelly, James Keltie, Thomas Kiddy (Kidney), William Kilby, Philip Gidley King, Alexander Laing, James Larra, Henry Lavell (Lovell), William Leane (alias Lane), John Long, Simeon Lord, John Lowes, Elizabeth Macarthur (née Veale), John Macarthur, Maurice Margarot, John Marshall, James Martin, James Mario Matra (formerly Magra), George William Maxwell, John McEntire (McIntyre), James Meredith, Andrew Miller, Nathaniel Mitchell, Joseph Morley, Micah Morton (Moreton), Thomas Muir (younger of Huntershill), Nanbaree (Nanbarry), Evan Nepean, Nicholas Nepean, William Nevinson (Nevison), Isaac Nichols, John Nichols, John O’Craft (Craft), Charles Ormsby, John Palmer, Rev. Thomas Fyshe Palmer, Jane Parkinson (alias Partington or Marshall), Edward Parrott (Perrott), William Parry (Perry), William Paterson, Pemulwuy (Pimelwi), Arthur Phillip, Humphrey Polden, William Quin, Robert Quinton, John Ramsay, William Raven, William Reid, James Richards, William Richards (Jr.), Edward Risby, John Roach, George Robinson, Anthony Ropes, Thomas Rose, Robert Ross, James Ruse, John Ryan (Friendship convict), John Ryan (Marine), Philip Schaffer, James Scott, William Cropton Sever, James Maitland Shairp, John Shea, John Shortland (Sr.), John Shortland (Jr.), Thomas George Shortland, Robert Sidaway, Duncan Sinclair, William Skirving, James Smith, John Smith (Charlotte convict), John Smith (Scarborough convict), Thomas Smyth (also recorded as William Smith), Daniel Southwell, Andrew Sproule, James Stewart, Thomas Sutton, Thomas Townshend (1st Viscount Sydney), Watkin Tench, Andrew Thompson, William Thompson, Martin Timms, Humphrey Tucker, Tuki Tahua (Toogee or Toki), John Turner (Charlotte convict), John Turner (Scarborough convict), James Underwood, John Usher, George Vancouver, William Vane (alias Vain), Francis Walton, Henry Waterhouse, Robert Webb, John White (Principal Surgeon), John White (Scarborough convict), Charles Williams (alias Christopher Magee), George Bouchier Worgan, David Ximenes (colonial exchange and corps accounts), Nancy Yates (Ann), Yemmerrawanne (Imebarbandi), Simon Young, Sir George Young, Solomon Zachariah, Rev. Henry Zouch