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Clan Munro (Association) Australia : The Official Registered Website of the Clan in Australia

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Lydia Munro, in company with Ann Forbes, was convicted of stealing ten yards of printed cotton, valued at 20 shillings and both were sentenced to be hanged. There was a reprieve and the sentence was commuted to seven years transportation aboard the Prince of Wales. After arrival in the new land (Tasmania) a daughter, Mary, was born to Lydia and baptised on the 19th July 1789. Andrew Goodwin was named as the father and they were married in 1790. Two days after their marriage they were sent to Norfolk Island aboard the Sirius. (Ed’s note: Like me, you may be wondering how baby Mary was possible when Lydia & Andrew sailed on different ships. I checked and found that the Fleet had arrived first at Botany Bay where they stayed for only about a week and then sailed for Port Jackson where they landed on January 26, 1788, a year before Mary was born. I assume that this is where Lydia & Andrew met before landing in Tasmania. You Australian history buffs will have already worked that out!)

After a productive period on Norfolk Island their term had expired and they left for Port Jackson. Lydia went first with baby son John in November 1794 and Andrew followed with their two daughters Mary and Sarah in March 1795. But within a short period of time they returned to Norfolk Island as free settlers and by 1807 Andrew had a farm valued at £80 with a house and 23 acres. Despite this productivity they once again moved when the authorities enforced five evacuations from Norfolk Island to the infant penal colony on the banks of the Derwent River.

The Goodwin family arrived in Van Dieman's Land aboard the Porpoise on 17th January 1808 with seven of their children. Their last daughter Letitia was born in Tasmania. Andrew died in 1835 and Lydia in 1856 and they were both buried at St. David's Cemetery, Hobart Town.

Sarah Goodwin married Benjamin Briscoe in 1808 at the age of 16. Benjamin had arrived as a convict on the Calcutta in 1804 and in 1807 had received 300 lashes for absconding from the colony. After being granted land at Clarence Plains, Benjamin was accidentally drowned in 1819. The next year Sarah married Mark Ashby Bunker, a convict who was transported for sheep stealing and who arrived on the Castlereagh in 1818.

In 1828, at the age of 35, Sarah applied for the land granted to her late husband. Sarah and Mark had eight children. Their seventh born was Hannah Amelia on 3rd April 1833 at Clarence Plains. Hannah married William Lewis in April 1851 at Colebrook, Tasmania. They had ten children, the seventh born being Mary Alice who with other members of her family moved to Strahan. Frederick Ormiston Henry and Mary Alice Lewis were married at Port Sorrell in 1887.

Frederick Ormiston or FO as he was known, was a trader. His first shop was a tent, which was quickly replaced by a timber shack. The fledgling township of Strahan grew up around his store and he began trading with the miners, prospectors and new townsfolk. His trading brought him shares in a mine & he eventually became the biggest shareholder in the Mt Lyell mine and when the shares reached over £16, he sold out and became one of the most affluent men on the West Coast of Tasmania.

By this stage FO had stores scattered around the mining areas of the West Coast at Strahan, Queenstown, Gormanston, Linda and Pillinger at Kelly's Basin. Times may have been tough in the early days but FO had established himself as the most successful businessman in the area. Following the sale of his Mt Lyell shares in 1897, Frederick Ormiston Henry set about building a fine mansion, “Ormiston House,” today regarded as one of Australia's finest examples of Federation architecture.

One can only wonder what convicts Lydia & Andrew would have thought had they known their great grand daughter would marry the man who was to become one of the richest and successful men in Tasmania

Ancestor Lydia Munro