My GGG grandmother, Jane Tipping appears to have been a poor but enterprising widow with five children to support. She lived in the area of Moy and Dungannon, County Tyrone and was convicted of “uttering base coin” on March 12 1839.

The local Church Minister organised Memorials for her which pleaded for clemency because of her children and her health. The final response to the Memorials revealed that the recorded conviction did not give the full story. It turned out that she had been previously convicted of imprisoned for manufacturing and circulating base money. The judgement stated that on this occasion she had “in her possession certain preparations for colouring and masking base coin to make them resemble shillings and half pennies”.  The judgement also suggested that she had used her children to circulate the coins. The verdict stated “The Law Must Take Its Course” but as clemency Jane was allowed to take her children with her to NSW on the convict ship “Isabella” in 1840.

There were 25 Irish children on the ship, many of whom were used as guinea pigs for an injection to stop sea sickness - unfortunately it had turned rancid and many of the children suffered badly, although Jane’s children were not listed as getting sick.

The Ship’s Surgeon described the journey as “long and tedious” but on arrival in Sydney he reported that the Governor passed flattering comments about the “Irish Gems” even though they had no petticoats (as none had been put on board). The children, however, arrived in “a ragged state” as no clothes had been put on board for them.

Jane was initially in the Female Factory before working for Mrs Jones and gaining her Ticket of Leave and then Certificate of Freedom, living in Castlereagh Street. She died in 1849 and was buried in Devonshire Street Cemetery before being reinterred in Gore Hill Cemetery in 1901 when Devonshire St was redeveloped for Central Station.

Her children settled in Sydney, the Victorian goldfields, Melbourne and possibly Queensland. Through Ancestry I have discovered descendants of three of the children: William George, Mary Jane and Emily (my GG grandmother), but have found none yet for Elizabeth or Thomas yet.

I look forward to hearing from other descendants of Jane.

Amongst my mother’s HALL relatives, there is an ongoing debate as to whether the family came from Co. Fermanagh or Co. Tyrone.

Thomas Joseph Hall, his wife Harriet Armstrong, and children Mary, William Joseph (“Teacher Hall”, my great-grandfather) , Margaret Jane, John, Sarah, Thomas Armstrong, and Harriet, arrived here in Moreton Bay on the “Wansfell” on 10th March 1865. They selected land at Swan Creek, near Warwick, Queensland, and married into the local community to the point where just about every second person in that part of Queensland seems to be some sort of relative of mine, either by blood or by marriage. Their house, “Bush Hill” still stands and a wonderful drawing of it by Mark Brelsford can be found in the book “Sandstone and Cedar”.

I have had some difficulty in tracing their Irish records, but their last address over there seems to have been the village of Kilskeery (which is often rendered as “Kilskerry” in the Qld records). Is it in Fermanagh or is it in Tyrone? The answer is a resounding “Yes”. If you look for it in the county web pages, both claim it as theirs, as it straddles the border of the two counties. To complicate matters, it appears that the civil parish is entirely within Fermanagh, but the ecclesiastical parish lies on both sides of the border.

“Teacher” Hall had a brief moment of fame, or maybe notoriety. He was appointed as the first head teacher of Blackstone School, near Ipswich, much to the disappointment of the Welsh mining community there who had already nominated a Welshman. During his time there, he was the subject of an official inquiry. Evidently, he was not in favour of school buildings being used for political campaign meetings but Education Department policy forced him to allow one to be held in his school. He “got his Irish up” by opening the schoolroom but not providing lighting for the night-time meeting. Naughty great-grandad!

My great great great Irish grandmother on my mothers side was born in Dublin in 1820, she worked as a house maid intill she stole a handkerchief and was sent to Australia in 1840 as a convict, she was released in 1845 and was married in 1846, her father Michael lamb had come out to Australia while she was still a convict.

In preparation for St. Patrick’s Day next week, we are looking for stories about your Irish ancestors. If you are one of the many Australians or New Zealanders who have Irish ancestry, we want to hear from you. 

Have you found an Irish ancestor through Ancestry.com.au? Perhaps a convict who came to Australia, an orphan from the Earl Grey Scheme after the Famine or a more recent immigrant? Simply click on Submit Your Story on the right hand side of the page and tell us about them.

If you have any photos of the people involved in your story, you can submit them too. Just click on Submit a text post and you will see an option to Submit a Photo.

We look forward to hearing your story.