William Spears, Marine “Earl Cornwallis” 1801

William Spiers, a soldier who came out on the "EARL CORNWALLIS". Mary, his first child, was not conceived during the voyage so Sarah was presumably assigned or "made available" to Spiers after the ship's arrival.

Spiers was transferred to Norfolk Island with the 102nd Regiment some months after his arrival in Sydney as he had a child, John, by Mary HOW in 1802 and a son James to her on 11th March 1804, born on Norfolk Island. He married Mary HOW on 29 July 1806 and they subsequently had several more children as detailed in the Pioneer Register.

Sarah Robinson married William Spear; Assiiigned to Spear on arrival in Sydney 1801

GEDCOM Note

YEAR 1801 IN THE COLONY JAN 1 King Is., Bass Strait, named by Capt. John Black of the brig Harbinger. 5 T. F. Palmer, his sentence expired, leaves Sydney in El Plumier. (Detained as prisoner of war in Guam, where he dies in June 1802.) 18 Simeon Lord appointed public auctioneer. 21 US ship Follensbe arrives at Port Jackson with a huge cargo of liquor, which Gov. King refuses to allow to be landed.

FEB 10 Ticket-of-leave system introduced by King, enabling convicts to work for wages and choose their own master. 21 Transport Ann arrives at Port Jackson with 251 convicts, including 137 Irish political prisoners.

MAR 21 Lt James Grant in the Lady Nelson surveys Westernport Bay (to 2Apr).

MAY 1 King orders Aborigines to be driven out of Parramatta, Prospect, and Georges River districts. 2 US ship Missouri arrives at Port Jackson; King refuses to allow The landing of a cargo of spirits. 30 French mariner Nicolas Baudin, with the ships Le G'e9ographe and Le Naturaliste (Emmanuel Hamelin), arrives at Geographe Bay, WA, on a voyage of scientific discovery. (Ships there part company.)

JUN 10 King sends Lt-Gov. Paterson in the Lady Nelson (Grant) to examine the Hunter River. 12 Earl Cornwallis arrives at Port Jackson with 253 convicts. 16 Paterson founds a settlement on the Hunter. (Abandoned in 1802.)

JUL 4 Survey party finds seams of coal at the Hunter. 14 Hamelin at Rottnest Is. (to 28th); explores Swan River. 18 Flinders leaves England in Investigator to explore Australian coastline. 20 Baudin explores De Witt's Land and names Monte Bello Is. (to 10 Aug.). 27 King disbands the Loyal Associations.

AUG 8 Female Orphan School opened in Sydney by Samuel Marsden under Gov. King's patronage. 26 Balmain leaves Sydney in the Albion to return to England; Surgeon John Harris replaces him as Naval Officer. 28 Venus (Charles Bishop) arrives at Port Jackson, carrying part-owner George Bass.

SEP 14 Paterson and Macarthur fight a duel; Paterson wounded; Macarthur arrested.

OCT 4 Consignment of coal exported to Bengal in the Earl Cornwallis.

NOV 12 Lt John Murray, who replaced Grant as commander of Lady Nelson, leaves Port Jackson to explore in southern waters. 15 Macarthur leaves Sydney for court martial in England. (Arrives London 21 Dec. 1802.) 21 Bass sails in the Venus on a commercial voyage in the Pacific.

DEC 6 Flinders in the Investigator arrives off the coast of WA, names Cape Leeuwin (7th), and enters King George Sound (8th). 7 Murray surveys Westernport (to 2 Jan. 1802). 14 Transports Minorca, Canada, and Nile arrive at Port Jackson with 296 convicts, including James Hardy Vaux, Dr William Redfern, artist John Eyre, and Margaret Catchpole; passengers include Richard Rouse. - Female convicts at the Parramatta gaol begin making rough blankets from locally produced wool. o Schooner Cumberland (28 tons), the first armed vessel belonging to the colony, launched at Sydney.

Taken From: Encyclopedia of Australia 1997. Published by Webster Publishing, 1996. Copyright Webster Publishing, and/or contributors.