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From Industrial England to Convict Lives in Colonial Australia (1795-1835)
In the early 19th century, two of my ancestors, Hannah Brown and Thomas Marslin, saw their lives irrevocably altered by the forces shaping industrial England and colonial Australia. Their life stories embody the struggles and perseverance of those uprooted by poverty and an unforgiving legal system. This chapter explores their journeys—distinct yet interconnected—revealing how they traversed the landscapes of punishment, survival, and adaptation in an ever-changing world.
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This chapter explores the intertwined lives of Hannah Brown and Thomas Marslin, convicts transported to New South Wales in the early 19th century, offering insight into the social dynamics, struggles, and resilience of individuals in the colony’s formative years. From Hannah’s harsh sentence at the Coal River Penal Settlement to Thomas’s secondary punishment at Port Macquarie, their stories reveal the harsh realities of convict life under Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s administration. The chapter also delves into Hannah’s later years, her union with Isaac Gadman, and the establishment of a more stable life in Sydney—a poignant reminder of both the harshness of the past and the hope that emerged amid adversity.