George Paddle, Convict "Neptune" 1790

George Patfield (also known as George Paddle or Padfield) was sentanced to 7 years transportation for theft on 17/03/1788. He departed Somerset on 19/01/1790 on the "Neptune", which was part of the Second Fleet.

Conditions on board the Neptune were awful, even for the notorious second fleet. Convicts were deliberately starved, kept heavily ironed, and frequently refused access to the deck. Scurvy could not be checked. People in Port Jackson were horrified at the condition of the convicts when they arrived.

George married Mary Brien/O'Brien/Bryan, who was also a convict (she arrived on the Bellona in 1792). They settled at Eastern Farms/Kissing Point. They had eight children, although their first child, Elizabeth (with whom Mary was pregnant when the pair married) died in her infancy.

George allegedly hung himself on 11/10/1809, leaving Mary to raise the children alone.

His wife,Mary Brien, is thought to have arrived on the ship "Boddington" from Dublin which arrived in April 1791. It is possible however that she arrived on the "Britannia" which reached Sydney on 25th July 1792 as there were two Mary Brien's who came to the colony about the same time.

George Patfield received a Grant of Land at Eastern Farms on 10th April 1798 and consequenttly the Patfields and the Smalls were living in the same area and it is not surprising that two of the Patfields, George and Elizabeth, and two of the Smalls, Sarah and John, were married at St.Philip's Sydney in a double ceremony on 31st October 1820.

It is noted that George Patfield Snr died by his own hand on 11th October 1809 after "brooding over a temporary embarrassment of a pecuniary nature". George Patfield Jnr., being the eldest son, seems to have inherited the family farm from his father as he later sold it in 1836.

George Jnr. and his wife Sarah moved to Paterson where their last two children were born at Middlehope.

Mystery surrounds the lives of both Sarah and George from the birth of their last child onwards. Extensive searches have been made in the records of the Registrar General for their deaths or of a possible second marriage of Sarah.