Mary Nash

Convicted at Middlesex Old Bailey on 23 May 1787 for "feloniously breaking and entering the dwelling-house of Owen Pearce , about the hour of nine in the forenoon, on the 26th day of April last, no person being therein, and feloniously stealing therein, a cotton bed quilt, value 20 s. three shirts, value 10 s. four pair of cotton stockings, value 2 s. one pair of callimanco slippers, value 3 s. a cloth cloak, value 2 s. and an iron key, value 1 d. his property" and transported for 7 years. Sailed on the Lady Juliana ‎(some records have "St Julian")‎ on 29 July, 1789 and arrived in Australia on 3 June 1790. Subsequently sent to Norfolk Island on August 1, 1790 on the ship 'Surprize' where she met Stephen Daft Smith in 1791.

No marriage record in NSW - possible they never got married? Lived in Sydney after Norfolk Island then moved to Castlereagh.

Smith and Nash lived on their 100-acre Castlereagh grant and suffered great losses in the 1806 floods. Smith was killed by James Hunt in December 1811. Hunt was convicted of his manslaughter. At the time of his death Smith was indebted to Samuel Terry who applied for the administration of his estate. Mary Nash continued to live in the district and worked for the Collitts family. She died at Castlereagh in 1833.

Norfolk Island. If the residents of Port Arthur were bad, then new adjectives need to be invented for those who were sent to Norfolk Island. This tiny speck in the Pacific was reserved for the very worst and they were dispatched on the understanding that they'd never be coming back.

It was deemed a punishment only one step down from death, though conditions were so bad that convicts often expressed joy when told that they were going to be executed. Fighting, murders and inhumane treatment were rife and escape was impossible — there was nowhere to run to.

In recent years, there have been efforts to preserve the remnants of the gruesome convict experience on Norfolk Island. Tours of the New Jail, including the cramped solitary confinement cells, are particularly chilling.

NOTES:
Other Names - Maria August 1790 - Sent to Norfolk Island 1 January 1791 - Ordered to wear leg irons for suspected theft. She was in an advanced state of pregnancy at the time and this is why she did not receive a flogging. This was her first child, named John when he was born the following month. He was not the son of Stephen Smith as this man did not arrive on Norfolk Island until August 1791. John's paternity has not been determined. November 1794 - Returned to Port Jackson with her children. They reunited with Stephen SMITH there 1806 - Mustered as having one male and one female child. Maria was still with Smith on a farm in the Evan district

From the book and documentary "The Floating Brothel" there is visual evidence in the manifest of the Lady Juliana that Mary was 38 years of age upon departure from the UK which would make her YoB as 1752.