Hi Neale1961. Yes - I'm aware that literate convicts were the exception, and many made great strides in the colony while still formally under sentence. So I do understand why he would have been given a clerk's role, but I'm surprised it took them so long (9 months) to decide he should be attached to one of the road building probation stations rather than in an office in the town, given the notes from the trial and the Surgeon Superintendent on the Norfolk..
Francis actually built the Marquis of Hastings and was the licensee for a number of years (though not continuously) - as was his wife Elizabeth, after he died in 1858. There was considerable friction between herself and George at that time regarding a claim to the inn and its contents. Francis had given George several allotments, but not the Marquis itself. George drowned only a few years later (1863).
I was aware that Francis had submitted an application for 2 relatives to migrate - but hadn't identified the second. The passenger list for the Australasia has been digitised, but the tasmanian Names Index only references the passengers, not the sponsors, so without knowing Isabella's married name I had no reason to search the full list. I wonder how she felt when she arrived to find another Isabella Wetton in her father's local family. Many thanks for the details you've shared..
