William Forrester, 1803-1869

Many years ago I commenced the publication of a series of family history books about a group of early colonial settlers of the Hawkesbury district, near Sydney in NSW. With a focus on the Forrester family, the first book was published in 2009: ‘Robert Forrester, First Fleeter’. It quickly sold out and was later updated and republished in 2020 as ‘Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter’. Publication of a book about the Forrester children was always planned.

That goal has since been abandoned. Instead, three separate books now feature the surviving Forrester daughters and their families (listed at the end of this post), while information about the four surviving Forrester sons remains a work-in-progress.[1] This short story about the youngest son, William, is the first attempt to fill in that gap. His story is limited by the amount of new information available to describe his life separately from the information already available in the companion volumes.

Starting at the beginning, William Forrester, the son of Robert Forrester and Isabella Ramsay, was born around 1803 on ‘Forrester’s Lower Farm’ at Cornwallis, beside the Hawkesbury (see Lot 49 on Map 1).[2] There is no record of his birth or baptism in surviving official records, or in his sister’s Martin family bible, but his death certificate records his name as William Forrester with the correct parent names, and the age at death was 66 years in December 1869, providing evidence that 1803 was his year of birth. A Memorial written on 28 June 1820 stated that he was aged 17, pointing to his birth in the first half of 1803.[3]

In the 1806 Muster he was one of eight unnamed children recorded in his father’s household.[4] He was one of eight ‘natural’ children, four boys and four girls, recorded with Bella Ramsay in the Muster of Women in August 1806.[5] They now  lived on Forrester’s second grant, of 70 acres in 1804, nearby but on higher ground in the adjoining parish of Ham Common (see Lot 65, left side of Map 1).

Bella died when William was about four years old. He was assumed to be at home with his father in 1811, as Muster information about children in households has been lost or destroyed.[6] And William is taken to be one of the four children (Henry, Robert Jnr, William and Ann) living with his father and Jane Metcalf (effectively his step-mother) in the Muster of October 1814.[7] Brother John was no longer classified as a child, sister Elizabeth had died, sister Margaret was married and sister Isabella Jane lived with the Bushells.[8]

Robert Forrester Snr's Land Grants at Windsor,
Parish & Historical Maps, County of Cumberland, Parish of St Matthew, No Date, Edition 4

Land Grants, 1821

William was too young to be listed as a freeholder in May 1820, being under 21 years old.[9] But, approaching his eighteenth birthday, he was keen for his own land and he made an application under a General Order covering grants of land to children, an Order which had been issued by Governor King in 1802.[10] The surviving copy of a joint ‘Memorial’ or petition with his older brother was addressed from Windsor on 28 June 1820 and read as follows:

To His Excellency Governor Macquarie

The humble Memorial of Robert Forester aged 19 (‘and William Forester aged 17’ was crossed out) most respectfully sheweth

That Memorialists are (crossed and changed to ‘is’) natives of this colony and sons of Robert Forester who arrived in the Colony in the ship Scarborough in 1790

That Memorialists having never received any indulgence humbly solicit Your Excellency for a proportion of land such as is usually allowed to Youths of the Colony

and Memorialists ?? and Pray

Signed Robert Forester

William Forester[11]

We certify to His Excellency the Governor that we consider Petitioner as coming within the meaning of the General Order of Governor King and recommends them (overwritten as ‘him’) accordingly

Signed William Cox JP

John Cross, Chaplain.[12]

The original submission included the names and signatures of both boys, but in June 1820, William was under 18, the eligible age for receiving a grant, and his name appears to have been crossed out by Cox and Cross, or within the bureaucracy. No-one corrected their father’s arrival date, from 1790 to the correct 1788. Regardless, on 5 May 1821 William appeared with his brother Robert on a list of persons promised grants of land by Macquarie on or before 31 March 1821.[13] There was a delay of several years before either brother received any title deeds.

The crossing out of William’s name appears to have created a muddle within the Surveyor-General’s Office. Once William had turned eighteen, Governor Macquarie promised him, on or before 1 December 1821, what amounted to a second grant of sixty acres.[14] It was nearly 20 years before William received the title deeds for this second grant, in the District of Nelson.

Forrester's Lower Farm

In the September 1822 Muster, 20-year-old William was recorded in a family group with his older brothers Henry and Robert but living 'with his father' at an unspecified place.[15] The Stock and Land Muster showed his father Robert’s farm at Windsor in 1822.[16] This would have been ‘Forrester’s Lower Farm’ at Cornwallis, with the family group also comprising William’s sister Ann, her husband Charles Homer Martin and their infant daughter, and Jane Metcalf.[17]

Together with his siblings, William was a moderately successful farmer. On 17 December 1824 the Commissariat Department accepted his tender for the supply of 150 bushels of wheat to the Commissariat Office at Windsor, for the price of six shillings per bushel.[18] His brothers and sister Ann Martin were also successful tenderers at Windsor. The Hawkesbury District was the bread basket for the colony at this particular tender, with only a few successful tenders from farmers living in the Parramatta or Liverpool or Hunter River regions. William and Robert were helping their father and sharing the work and the produce of the family farm.

An announcement on 30 August 1825 from the Surveyor General’s Office proclaimed that land was now ready for delivery to Robert and William Forrester (and many others).[19] Accordingly, in the General Muster held in October, William was recorded as a colonial-born landholder of Windsor.[20]

Sawyer at Kurrajong

Deeds back-dated to 30 June 1823 were later issued by Macquarie’s replacement, Governor Brisbane, covering this first grant to William, comprising sixty acres at Kurrajong, on the northern boundary of his brother Robert’s grant.[21] Quit rental of one shilling was to commence in five years.[22] These adjoining blocks, shown on the accompanying map and crossed by Hermitage Road, are located on the northern side of today’s Bell’s Line of Road at North Kurrajong, just before the steep climb up the escarpment.

Robert and William Forrester Land Grants at Kurrajong,
Parish & Historical Maps, County of Cook, Parish of Kurrajong, Date 1940, Edition 7

The usual conditions applied. Robert and William were each required to clear and cultivate sixteen acres within the term of five years, and were not permitted to sell, assign, transfer or let within the said term. As was its custom, the Government reserved the right of making public roads through the land, and the right to use such timber as may be deemed fit for naval purposes, a condition rarely enforced, as most of that timber had been used long before.

Land was becoming a valuable commodity, especially since the system of issuing free grants had been terminated after Governor Macquarie left. Crown land now had to be purchased at five shillings an acre, because in the opinion of the new Governor, Brisbane:

While the system of free grants exists, there is little chance of extensive improvement taking place generally in the colony, as the improver of land can never enter the market in competition with the individual who gets his land for nothing'. …. Between May and December 1825 more than 500,000 acres were sold. In land policy Brisbane had recognized the need to encourage men of capital, though at the same time opposing over-lavish land grants.[23]

Yet the Forrester brothers, busy working their father’s land near Windsor, were in no rush to take up their own land.  A ‘List of Persons whose Grants of Land are yet lying at the Surveyor-General’s Office’, dated 3 February 1826, included the names of Robert Forrester, 60 acres, and William Forrester, 60 acres, with fees of nine shillings and seven pence due to be paid on each block.[24]

If they had not previously received notification of their entitlements, it seems that the notice galvanized Robert and William to claim their land. With quit rent about to be imposed, Robert and William got to work clearing their heavily timbered bush blocks at Kurrajong.

Working alongside their brother-in-law Charles (Charley) Martin, who lived with them, they all needed to learn how to be sawyers. William found himself in actual trouble over his sawyer activities, with Charley almost in trouble. On 14 July 1827 William was cited to appear before the Windsor Court:

to answer a charge of having employed James Butler, a runaway prisoner, absent more than twelve months. Forrester is a native of the colony, and by some stratagem Butler had been introduced to him, and the result was that Butler undertook to teach Forrester to saw, and actually made a sawyer of him; Forrester admitted that Butler had been with him some months. It is said that one Charley Somebody had also employed Butler and it would be well for Charley Somebody to be more cautious in future – and he knows why. Fined fifty dollars and costs.[25]

James Butler must surely have been the runaway of January 1825:

Jas. Butler, Larkens, 32, Carlow, 5 ft feet 8 and a half, hazle eyes, brown hair, dark pale comp. Emu Plains’.[26]

And the same man mentioned three months later:

ROBBERY. Whereas JAMES BUTLER, a Sawyer, and advertised as a Runaway from Emu Plains, stands charged with a ROBBERY; This is to direct all Peace Officers, and Others, to apprehend the said James Butler, and lodge him in some of His Majesty's Goals. By Order of the Bench of Magistrates. Windsor Court-house, 2nd April, 1825. John Howe.[27]

Meanwhile, Robert and William had sold both of their adjoining blocks to their family friend Paul Bushell, an ageing farmer, on 2 January 1827. Robert sold his block for £20.[28] William also sold for £20.[29] William’s witnesses were Richard Wm. Cobcroft, Thomas Lovell and Richard Shrimpton. At 5s. per acre, the blocks were notionally worth £15 each, so value had been added by the clearing work. Paul did not live close by, and without his close supervision a dispute arose several years later over an encroachment on the land.[30]

Wilberforce

Robert Forrester Snr died in February 1827 and within a year the remaining members of his household moved from ‘Forrester’s Lower Farm’ at Cornwallis to Wilberforce, where they ‘squatted’ on the Common for many decades.[31] William lived here too, although not eligible for inclusion in an 1827 listing of householders and landowners.[32]

In the 1828 Census William was recorded as a 25-year-old colonial-born sawyer, working for his younger married sister Ann Martin and living at Wilberforce.[33] In other words, he was working with his convict brother-in-law Charles Martin, whose wife Ann was the official employer because her husband was still a convict. Ann also employed the sawyer James Baker aged 35, who arrived aboard Canada in 1821 to serve a seven-year sentence and was now free; and the convict labourer Edward Fletcher aged 27, who had arrived aboard Malabar in 1819 to serve a life sentence. William’s brother Robert was there too.

It seems likely that Paul Bushell did not obtain legal title to the Forrester land until after the 1828 Census. This might be the reason why, on 22 September 1829, William Forrester of Wilberforce commissioned a letter to the Surveyor General concerning his 60-acre block at Curryjong (sic) and his brother Robert’s 60-acre block, in the same district. The land was granted by Governor McQuarrie (sic) and Deeds were given by Sir Thomas Brisbane. The letter said:

These two said Farms are illegally in possession and in consequence of their teazing and other misrepresentations to your assistant Surveyor who is now at the Curryjong, he declines measuring us the said Grants without an order from you. I therefore would feel obliged to you for an immediate order to have them measured.[34]

The letter notes that a reply was sent on 1 October 1829, but the contents of that reply are not known.[35] Since the two blocks had been sold to Paul Bushell in 1827, the correspondence is interpreted as an attempt by the Forresters to sort out encroachment on the blocks by persons other than Paul Bushell.

The matter of unfulfilled promises of land made by Governor Macquarie was belatedly revisited by the government. Possibly in bureaucratic ignorance of the land already granted at Kurrajong, on 19 September 1831 land was advertised in the name of W Foster as Grant No 13, of sixty acres, in the District of Nelson.[36] William received a letter from the Colonial Secretary, dated 21 September 1831, and organized a reply from Wilberforce on 16 November 1831, stating his surname as ‘Foster’, his Christian name as ‘William’, and the intended name of the property as ‘Armagh Lodge’, but nothing was done about issuing title deeds for nearly ten years.[37]

At the 11 April 1832 hearings of the Windsor Court of Requests, Edward Robinson took action against William Forrester of Currency Creek for two Promissory Notes, value ₤7.10.0.[38] The case was found for the plaintiff. William did not own land at Currency Creek, leading to the conclusion that he was an employee of someone there. Edward Robinson was licensee of ‘The Plough’ at George St, Windsor from 1831 to 1845.[39]

On 15 May 1833 a neighbour at Wilberforce, Thomas Corbett, accused the Forrester brothers of stealing from him a calf valued at £2.0.0.[40] On 25 May 1833 William Forrester, a labourer late of Wilberforce, was found not guilty of the charge of cattle stealing.[41] His older brother Robert was found guilty, along with co-accused neighbour John Norris, and both were transported to Tasmania, accompanied by their wives and children (with more about this case in Robert’s story). William’s labouring status was another indicator that he had sold all his land.

At the 15 October 1835 hearings of the Windsor Court of Requests, William Forrester took action against William Roberts (brother-in-law of his brother Henry) for money for the defendant’s account, value ₤3.13.0, but no appearance was made.[42]

Cornwallis and Maria Carroll

William’s name did not appear in the 1836 Post Office Directory for New South Wales, but his brothers John and Henry were recorded therein at Cornwallis.[43] Their brother Robert, of course, was in Tasmania. William appears to have moved away from the crowded Martin household at Wilberforce and back to Cornwallis because, when he married at St Matthews Church of England on 9 March 1837, the witnesses to his wedding lived at Cornwallis.[44]

His bride Maria Carroll was a native of Dublin, born around 1814, and she’d arrived as a 21-year-old widowed convict aboard Roslyn Castle on 25 February 1836.[45] She’d been a housemaid, able to read but not write, when she was convicted on 24 April 1835 at Dublin City for stealing books.[46] Her religion was recorded as Roman Catholic when she arrived but, for a marriage to be legal at that time, it had to take place in the Church of England. Both bride and groom were unable to sign the register and made their mark. William was married after banns by Rev Henry Stiles with the consent of the Governor, as his wife was still a convict. The witnesses were neighbours John Slaven of Cornwallis, who signed, and Mary Slaven of Cornwallis who made her mark. It was a mixed Catholic/Protestant marriage and did not fare well.

In 1837 William employed David Thomas, a 21-year-old convict who arrived aboard Mary Ann in 1835, to help him on the farm at Windsor.[47] Unfortunately, no evidence has been found at the Land Titles Office concerning land purchased or leased by William Forrester at, or near, Windsor.

At the 12 July 1838 hearings of the Windsor Court of Requests, William Forrester took action against his brother-in-law Thomas Lovell for hay sold, value ₤10.0.0.[48] The Court found for the plaintiff. William acknowledged receipt of £10 plus costs and made his mark on the receipt of 16 July, still unable to sign his name.

At the 17 January 1839 hearings of the Windsor Court of Requests, Henry Forrester took action against his brother William for the balance of his account, the amount being ₤9.11.3.[49] Henry was now an innkeeper in Windsor. The case was settled. Probably at the same hearings, after a case launched on 1 January 1839, a man named George Maughan took action against William Forrester for the balance of his account, the amount being ₤7.14.2. The case was settled in favour of the plaintiff but for the lesser amount of ₤5.14.2½.[50]

On 17 March 1840, the local bailiff Laban White with William Hopkins, Trustees for the Estate of George Seymour, launched an action in the Windsor Court of Requests against William Forrester regarding a bill of ₤10.0.0 rendered for meat.[51] The matter was settled.

At the 1841 Census, William was a farmer at Cornwallis, employing another colonial-born free man in the same 21-to-45-year age group as himself to help on the farm.[52] William was not recorded as a landed proprietor. His wife Maria aged 21-45 years was recorded as 'other free'. William and his wife were recorded as Church of England, while his employee was a Roman Catholic. Unfortunately, the names of people within households in 1841 are not available, a point which will soon become relevant in this story. The three adults lived in a wooden house which was completed. The Forresters had no children.

Land Grant at Nelson, 1841-1842

On 20 March 1841 the Surveyor General was requested to report whether the Deeds of the 60 acres granted in 1831 to W Foster (sic) in the District of Nelson had ever been issued. The reply on 6 April stated that:

the Deed of Grant of this land has not apparently been made out yet – 10 years having elapsed, it is not very possible to discover whether any applications have been made, or not, since then – nor is known whether Foster be still alive. The course would apparently be to refer to Mr North the Police Magistrate at Windsor - that enquiries may be made as to whether Foster be alive & if so if he still owns the land - & if not who does – or the case might be at once referred to the Commissioners.[53]

It was decided on 8 April to contact North, with a printed letter for Foster.[54]

William Forrester of Windsor responded promptly, on 14 April 1841, stating that he did claim the property, whose intended name now was ‘Belvidere’, carrying the meaning ‘beautiful view’. He made his mark, still unable to sign his name.[55]

North replied to the Colonial Secretary on 15 April 1841, enclosing letters of claim from both Henry and William Forrester, and the decision was taken on 1 May to readvertise the blocks.[56] On 8 June 1841, his address given as Post Office, Windsor, William arranged for a letter to be sent to the Colonial Secretary to enquire whether the grant of 60 acres at Nelson, called ‘Belvidere’, ‘has yet been made out in my name’.[57]

A Title Deed was prepared in favor of William Forrester, and executed on 24 August 1841, with quit rent of one shilling sterling per annum commencing retrospectively on 1 January 1827.[58] It specified a northern boundary with Carrol’s block (any possible connection to William’s wife is unknown) and an eastern boundary with a chain of ponds.[59] This chain is shown on the next map as Cataract Creek, from which the water supply for the block would presumably be obtained. A footnote states ‘this land was erroneously advertised on 19 September 1831 in the name of W Foster’, in whose name William’s holding is shown on the accompanying map.[60]

William Forrester's Land Grant, District of Nelson,
Parish & Historical Maps, County of Cumberland, Parish of Nelson, Date 1923, Edition 9

William’s brother Henry also received a block at the same time. The location of both blocks was previously known as Forrester, known today as Maraylya, on the other side of Pitt Town and some distance from Windsor. Research into the Forrester family makes no other reference to their contact with this area, other than Henry’s and William’s blocks. The name change to Maraylya was made by the local Progress Association in the 1920s but Baulkham Hills and Windsor Libraries have no information on the reasons for how, when and why the area originally acquired the name of Forrester, or why the name was changed to Maraylya.

William did not hold his block for long. On 23 & 24 May 1842, three months before their first child was born,  William and Maria Forrester sold sixty acres of land in the district of Nelson to James Mountford, bounded by Carrol’s land towards the north-west, and a chain of ponds towards the east, to be called ‘Belvidere’.[61] The sale was witnessed by Francis Beddek, solicitor of Windsor, and his clerk David Lawson.

Birth of 'Black Bill', 1842

Maria was heavily pregnant when William’s widowed eldest brother John married his second wife at St Matthew’s Windsor in August 1842. Three days after that wedding Maria gave birth, on 26 August 1842 at Cornwallis, to her son William Jnr. The baby was baptised at St Matthews on 25 September 1842.[62]

This was William and Maria’s only child.

William Jnr later had children but, through his son Charles Albert Forrester, it was discovered in July 2025 that William Jnr’s descendants have no DNA connections to the numerous known descendants of the wider Forrester family. Other descendants of William Snr do share the required DNA links: his as-yet-unborn daughter Isabella Jane Forrester and another person yet to enter this story. William Jnr’s descendants don’t seem bothered that he arrived in the world as ‘a non-paternal event’, to use DNA terminology, and not actually as a genealogical Forrester. They had always suspected something hadn’t been fully disclosed within their family. Given the composition of the William Forrester household at the time of the March 1841 census, it might be worth checking out the DNA matches for young William with the Catholic families living at Cornwallis from the early 1800s, such as the Eather, Gough and Norris families.

Perhaps William knew the truth about the boy’s origins. Evidence from a Windsor court case proves that William was estranged from his wife Maria, and William Jnr, by 1846:

_ Forrester was summoned to appear for abandoning his wife and family and refusing to maintain them. The case was dismissed, their Worship’s ascertaining that Mrs Forrester refused to live with her husband, although she had taken him “for better for worse,” as the Magistrate facetiously informed her; but as “a separate maintenance” appeared to be the object sought by the complainant, the Bench refused to interfere further in the matter.[63]

Four Forrester brothers resided in or near the town of Windsor in 1846 but two of the brothers were currently in stable marriages and the third was a widower. The unnamed Forrester who appeared in court is therefore taken to be William. Two Maria Forresters were alive in Windsor at the time but, since Henry’s wife Maria was childless, the complainant must have been William Forrester’s legal wife Maria, the mother of the William Forrester Jnr born at Windsor in 1842.

Maria, Larceny, 1849

By November 1849, if not sooner, Maria was supporting herself as a dealer (shopkeeper) in George St, Windsor. In that month she appeared in the Parramatta Quarter sessions charged with larceny (for stealing a salt cellar from the innkeeper S H Carter at Windsor on 6 September) but was acquitted and discharged on 21 November.

The story appeared in the local paper:

LARCENY. Maria Forrester, dealer, of Windsor, was charged with stealing a salt cellar, on the 6th September last, the property of Mr. S. H. Carter, innkeeper, of Windsor. 

Mark Clarass being called deposed, that he was in the employ of the prosecutor the day named in the indictment; that there was an entertainment, consisting of tight rope dancing, near the premises, and much company was at the house in question; witness placed the salt cellars on the table, and afterwards missed one of them; he saw the salt cellar afterwards with the Chief Constable, and said that it was the property of Mr. Carter.

Mrs. Shirley, wife of the Chief Constable, swore to having seen the prisoner take the salt cellar off the pianoforte and put it into her basket, afterwards let it fall, and pick it up again; that she gave information of the circumstance, and the prisoner was apprehended.

Constable Cotter, of the Windsor police, deposed, that he apprehended the prisoner with the article in question in her possession, and brought her to the Chief Constable.

Mr. Laverick, auctioneer, was called and deposed that he held a sale on the day in question; that he sold the prisoner two salt cellars, but not the one in question.

The attorney for the defendant called two witnesses, who swore that the prisoner bought a salt cellar from two dealers after the auction; and a man of colour, named Tuff, swore that the one produced was the one purchased.

Several other witnesses were called, who gave the prisoner a good character. [These were Reuben Bullock, a publican of Windsor and John Scott, a ginger beer brewer of Windsor.] The Jury found the prisoner not guilty; she was defended by Mr. O. R. Nichols.[64]

Court Document 
Clerk of the Peace, Registers of Criminal Cases Tried at Parramatta, 1848-1852, on Ancestry.com

Maria, Sly Grog Selling, 1850

Six months later Maria had a second interaction with the law. On 15 May 1850 she was accused of sly grog selling at Windsor, specifically for illegally selling three glasses of rum to Jane Gribble. The story appears below:

WINDSOR. POLICE COURT. - Before J. S. Scarvell, Esq, J.P., John Panton, Esq., J,P., James Ascough, Esq., J.P., and Stephen Tuckerman, Esq., J.P.

Sly Grog Selling. - Mrs. Maria Forrester, residing in George street, Windsor, shopkeeper, was brought up by summons to answer the above charge. The information charged her with having, on the 15th of May, sold rum to one Jane Gribble in less quantity than two gallons, contrary to the provisions of the Act 13 Vic. No. 29.

For the prosecution the Chief Constable called Jane Gribble, who deposed that on the 15th May, she came into Windsor with her husband from Wilberforce, and went to Mrs. Forrester's to purchase some articles, and also to pay her 2s. 6d. which she owed Mrs. F, for some grog which she had had there previously; that upon going into the shop, Mrs. Forrester pulled her husband into her bedroom which adjoins the shop, and bounced him into a chair, telling him he ought to be much flattered by the circumstance, as it was not every man she allowed to come into her bedroom, and that she was going to stand treat, which she did; that Mrs. F. then suggested the propriety of Mrs. Gribble standing treat, to which Mrs. G. consented; the rum was taken from under the bed in the said room; Mrs. G. paid 1s. for three glasses of rum, leaving 3d. over, which went in payment partly of an article which she immediately afterwards purchased; after the purchase Mrs. G. again stood treat, for which she paid a sixpence and a threepenny bit; Mrs. Forrester suggested that Mrs. Gribble should again stand treat, and accordingly poured out three glasses of rum, but Mrs. G. finding that three glasses were enough for her, refused to take any more or to pay for her glass, but stated her willingness to pay for the two glasses; she then gave Mrs. Forrester a shilling, and demanded sixpence in change. This not suiting Mrs. F.'s ideas, she stuck to the shilling and would not give any change, which led to a dispute, and ended in Mrs. Gribble laying the present information.

Thomas Gribble being called, corroborated the testimony of his wife, except as to the payment of money, he being as he stated, beastly drunk, and not able to recollect anything about the payment, except what his wife told him. He remembered distinctly, however, as to the rum being taken from under the bed, and both swore positively that there was not any other person came into the bedroom during the whole time, except a little girl to ask for a book.

Mrs. Forrester, for her defence, called Sarah Williams, an aged veteran and servant to the defendant, who deposed that while the three parties, Thomas and Mrs. Gribble, and Mrs. Forrester, were in the bedroom together, she was sent by Mrs. F. to Doust's public-house, next door, three different times for two nobblers of brandy and a glass of rum, for which she paid each time, one of which payments was made in sixpence in coppers, and a threepenny bit, and that she delivered the spirits by placing them on the table in the bedroom.

Mr. Doust, landlord of the Macquarie Inn, Windsor, deposed as to having served the former witness on the day mentioned, three different times, with two nobblers of brandy, and one glass of rum, for which she paid him; this was early in the day, before 12 o'clock.

Mrs. Forrester prayed for a postponement of the case, in consequence of the absence of a witness whom she alleged to be material, but who was in Sydney.

The Bench, after some consultation, and considering that Mrs. Forrester was not defended by counsel, with the consent of the Chief Constable postponed the further hearing of the case until next Saturday week.[65]

At the resumed hearing at the Court of Magistrates, Windsor, before John Panton and James Ascough, barristers now represented both the prosecution and the defence: 

WINDSOR. Police Court. Before John Panton, Esq., J.P., and James Ascough, Esq., J.P. The Queen v. Forrester. This case had been heard before the bench, as communicated to you, and was postponed from the Tuesday on which it was heard until last Saturday, when it presented a very different aspect.

On the first occasion no counsel appeared for the Crown, nor did any appear on behalf of the defendant; but on Saturday Mr. Lambton appeared on behalf of the Crown, and Mr. Gould (from Parramatta) appeared on behalf of the defendant, Mrs. Forrester.

It may be remembered, that the case was postponed for the evidence of a material witness, then alleged to be in Sydney. The name was given by Mrs. Forrester as Mary Foley. On resuming the case last Saturday, Mr. Lambton reminded the bench of the circumstances under which the case had been postponed and submitted that Mary Foley only ought to be admitted as additional evidence. The record of the Court having been read, it was found that the name of Mary Foley was not inserted as the material witness, and consequently one out of four additional witnesses was allowed to be selected as the one who was to prove the case in favour of the defendant.

R. Fitzgerald, Esq, J P, being on the bench at the time the case was called on, declined to sit in the matter. Both the attorneys engaged assured his Worship that they had not the slightest objection to his sitting and adjudicating in the case; but his Worship stated that his reasons for not doing so were two-fold - first, because Mrs Forrester had addressed him in the street in Windsor, and requested him to sit in the case, and that she had even called upon him whilst in Sydney, requesting him again to sit as magistrate in the case when it should be heard; he never listened to any party who attempted to state his case to him beforehand, and he always refused to sit as a magistrate where either of the parties engaged in a cause requested him to attend at the adjudication of such cause in his capacity of magistrate; consequently his worship did not sit in this case.

The witness called was one Susannah Harman, who was a servant of Mr Doust's at the time it was alleged the offence was committed. It must be here observed, that in the previous examination Mrs. Forrester had endeavoured to make it out that the Gribbles got the drink from Doust's, between eleven and twelve o'clock on the 15th of May; that Sarah Williams had received the money to pay for the two nobblers of brandy and a glass of rum upon three different occasions that day, describing the pieces of money in which they were paid for; and that she paid Mr Doust for them.

Mr. Doust in his evidence stated that in the former part of the day he had served Sarah Williams three times with the quantities of liquor above stated, but that this was before, or certainly not after, twelve o'clock.

Susannah Harman, in her evidence, stated, that about three o'clock on the day named in the information she served the witness, Sarah Williams, with the brandy and rum spoken of. That Mrs. Forrester paid for all, at least for two in the first instance, and that afterwards Mrs F. paid her for the third round, with sixpence and a three-penny bit. In cross-examination, she stated that her recollection of the day was brought home to her by the fact that her master, Mr. Doust, had been at the Police Court that day, and was kept until very late in the day. That she was servant to Mr. Doust, and always served liquor when he was absent; that she did not see the Gribbles at Mrs. Forrester's until three o'clock that day.

A question now arose as to whether Mr. Gould was entitled to address the Bench, and at this stage of the case comment upon the evidence for the Crown, as well as for the defence, and raise objections to the information and the evidence as taken down in the record.

Mr Lambton contended that Mrs. Forrester having had sufficient time to employ counsel, had she so chosen, was not now entitled to have the evidence in anywise remarked upon by her counsel, as the time for her doing so was when she was called upon for her defence. 

Mr. Gould argued on the contrary, and the Bench, taking all things into consideration, allowed the learned gentleman to do so, expressly stating that this case was not to be considered as a precedent to any other which might occur in future.

Mr. Gould then went into an able and most ingenious defence on behalf of his client, expatiating and remarking upon the evidence. But more particularly did the learned gentleman call the attention of the bench to the information, and as he alleged, the deficiency in the evidence as taken down. This debate lasted a long time, as Mr. Gould quoted many authorities in support of his objections to the information.

It having been stated on the part of the defence that the liquor was obtained from Mr. Doust's, between eleven and twelve, and the case for the defence having been closed, Mr Lambton stated that he was entitled, on the part of the Crown, to rebut the evidence on the part of the defendant, which, after some discussion, and quoting from Russell on Crime, was admitted, and accordingly Mr. John Cunningham, jun., was called, who deposed, that on the day mentioned in the information, he found the Gribbles at his house, on the other side of the River Hawkesbury, at twelve o'clock, waiting for him to unload a dray, and get paid; and that they remained there until one o'clock; consequently they could not have been at Mrs Forrester's at twelve o'clock, when Mr. Doust served Sarah Williams with the liquor.

This was conclusive, and the bench found her guilty. She was fined in the sum of thirty pounds, and one pound eleven shillings costs, or in default of payment, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment in Her Majesty's gaol at Parramatta.

Mr. Gould applied for fourteen days to pay the fine, but Mr. Lambton having stated that he was credibly informed that Mrs. Forrester had been engaged until as late as two o'clock that morning in removing her goods for the purpose of evading payment of the fine, the bench only allowed her three clear days. The Court was unusually crowded, and the case appeared to excite considerable interest, from a variety of circumstances.[66]

Maria, Gaoled, 1850

Someone might have paid for Maria’s barrister but she didn’t pay the fine of £30 plus costs and she ended up in Parramatta Gaol for three months.

In her appeal from gaol on 27 June 1850, she described herself as a poor woman supporting herself and a child aged five by keeping a small shop for the sale of groceries, etc, in the town of Windsor. The Bench did not recommend mitigation of her sentence, describing Maria as:

a woman of but indifferent character’, who had ‘for some time past borne the reputation of being a sly grog seller – witnesses for prosecution stated it was not the first time they had bought spirits of the petitioner.[67]

Maria’s ‘child aged five’ might have been the ‘little girl’ mentioned in court evidence, whose birth appears to be unregistered and whose father has not been identified. William Forrester Jnr would have been seven years old at this time, implying he was not currently in her care but was with William Snr.

The arrangements for her dependent child’s care during Maria’s gaol sentence are not known. After her release from gaol in the last quarter of 1850, Maria moved to Sydney, one assumes with the little girl.

William Jnr presumably stayed with William Snr, who was legally responsible for the boy.

According to the author Patrick McCarthy, dark-haired William Forrester Jnr attended the Episcopal Church primary school at Windsor, along with the children of his much older cousin George Forrester (son of Henry), including the red-haired William James Forrester. The two Williams, a year apart in age, had different colouring and so were distinguished by the nicknames ‘Black Bill’ and ‘Red Bill’, after their hair colour.[68] Also at the school, says McCarthy, were Henry Readford, two Hall brothers and two Scuthorpe brothers, this group of childhood mates later becoming the nucleus of a major cattle duffing operation in northern and western NSW and south west Queensland and dramatized in the novel ‘Robbery Under Arms’.

However, a William Forrester at school in Sydney in 1855 may contradict this version of events.

Charles Forrester, 1850

Meanwhile, during 2018-19 a man with the surname Forrester emerged as sharing DNA markers with descendants of the First Fleeter Robert Forrester and his partner Isabella Ramsay. He shared DNA with three of Robert’s children, the siblings Ann Forrester, Isabella Forrester and Robert Forrester Jnr, and had traced his forebears back to a Charles Forrester, said to have been born at Windsor, NSW around 1850.

Follow-up DNA tests revealed that his Y-DNA markers matched up to three male descendants of Robert Forrester Jnr and the connected McGaw line in America, making Charles Forrester born c. 1850 a hitherto unknown grandson of the First Fleeter. Unfortunately there is no record of his birth but his connection to the First Fleeter is taken, for now, to be through son William, who was living in Windsor around 1850.

Charles later married Mary Ann Kezia Pearce and, when the birth of their daughter Gladys Lucy Maud Forrester was registered on 12 August 1896, his age was given as 46; he died on 8 December 1923 aged 73 at Dalby Hospital. Both dates are consistent with his birth in 1850, before 12 August. When the birth of his daughter Doris Elma Forrester was registered on 9 August 1902, he gave his age as 51 years and his birthplace as Windsor. Assuming he was speaking the literal truth about his age on both occasions, this narrows his date of birth further, to after 9 August and before 12 August 1850.

Charles presumably lived with his mother, whose identity is not known.

Young Charles did not remain in Windsor for long. By 1871 he was passing through the Upper Hunter Valley, en route to outback New South Wales where many family members resided, when he was kicked by a horse while urging his team up the range and had his arm and ribs fractured. He was conveyed to Dr. Gordon at Murrurundi for surgical treatment.[69]

Maria Dies, 1854

When ‘Black Bill’ was almost twelve his 40-year-old mother Maria, of Pitt St, Sydney, was buried by Rev. John F. Sheridan on 26 May 1854 at St James Roman Catholic Church.[70] There was no announcement in the papers which might shed further light on the living arrangements Maria had with her estranged husband or her son William Jnr.

Was it her husband, or a different William Forrester, who appeared a few months later at the Central Police Court in Sydney:

William Forrester pleaded guilty to an information under the Police Act, for being at an illegal distance from a horse and dray in his charge, and paid the penalty of 10s, with. 2s. 6d. costs.[71]

And who was the following schoolboy in Sydney in 1855? The Crimean War was underway in Europe and, even in Australia, charitable collections abounded for ‘Patriotic Funds’ supporting the widows and orphans of men killed in that war. In Windsor, donations from pupils at the public school, the Church of England, Wesleyan, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic schools made no mention of Forrester children, but contributions from some of ‘Mr Brown’s pupils’, apparently referring to Henry Brown at the City Grammar School in Bligh Street, Sydney, included William Forrester's donation of two shillings, and Miss Blanchard's two shillings and sixpence.[72] With two boys aged under fourteen and named William Forrester alive at this time, was this ‘Red Bill’ or ‘Black Bill’?

William Snr was a resident of Cornwallis when he qualified as a voter in the seat of Hawkesbury for elections to the Legislative Assembly in 1859-60.[73]

By now ‘Black Bill’ had likely joined ‘Red Bill’ and the latter’s father George Forrester on George’s grazing properties in outback New South Wales, near the Queensland border, where George had lived since the 1840s. A book about their adventures has been drafted but requires substantial editing.

Sarah Blanchard, 1863

Nearly a decade after the death of his estranged wife Maria, the widower William Snr married again at the age of sixty. On 29 September 1863 he married the young widow Sarah Blanchard at her house in Windsor, according to the rites of the Presbyterian Church.[74] Sarah had been born in Pitt Town on 9 November 1826 to John Bootle and Catherine Soars and was the second wife and now widow of the Windsor publican Walter Blanchard, whom she had married in Windsor on 9 September 1852.[75] William, described as a farmer who resided ‘near Windsor’, signed the register with his mark, in the presence of the officiating minister David Moore. The bride could sign her name, as could the witnesses William Charles Bootle (presumably the bride’s younger brother) and Mary Anne Adamson (nee Blanchard), who was the bride’s step-daughter. Sarah brought her young daughter and namesake Sarah Blanchard to her second marriage.

Sarah also brought with her to this marriage several properties which had belonged to her deceased husband. The first disposal of these, Lots 14-22 being portions of Seville’s grant near Parramatta, was on 10 March 1864, sold by William Forrester and his wife Sarah, to James Pye of Parramatta for ₤10 sterling.[76]

On 8 June 1864 the remaining properties were sold. For the sum of ₤151, William Forrester of the Cornwallis, near Windsor, farmer, and Sarah his wife (formerly Blanchard), sold to John Hoskisson of Windsor, grazier, half of a portion of 35 perches, portion of 20 acres of Catherine Farm, in George St Windsor.[77] (The other half portion already belonged to Phillip Smith). William made his mark, his wife was able to sign. By now, Hoskisson ‘owned a large part of the Cornwallis farmland and was the greatest owner of house property in Windsor.’[78] Also sold that day was a block of 28 perches, another part of Catherine Farm, sold for ₤68 sterling to Joseph Hearn of Windsor, farm produce dealer.[79]

William’s farm at low-lying Cornwallis was a hazardous location for a farmer. He’d experienced the series of devastating floods which hit the Hawkesbury during his childhood, and several floods in 1830. A flood in late July 1857 saw the Hawkesbury rise to 37 feet above normal river levels. A 22-foot flood in March 1864 was followed by a second massive flood in June 1864 when farms were under water for four or five days.[80] He’d also survived the long droughts of the later 1820s and later 1830s.

After the massive flood, William and Sarah had the first of their two daughters, when he was in his early sixties. Isabella Jane’s birth in 1864 was proudly announced in all the papers:

FORRESTER—October 6th, at her residence, near Windsor, Mrs. William Forrester, sen., of a daughter.[81]

Isabella was a toddler when the Hawkesbury experienced its all-time record flood in June 1867, a massive 63 feet above the river’s usual level according to a memorial at Sarang Church on Portland Head. Despite heroic rescue efforts, that flood brought great loss of life, property and livestock, all described in numerous accounts of that horrendous week. Flooded out of their homes were John and William Forrester in both Windsor and Cornwallis, with William included among the few listed who, ‘although heavy losers will not want relief, or would not take it, or if would, only temporary’.[82] Their brother Henry must have been one of the few residents living above the flood line in Windsor, as he was not listed among the flood victims. The fate of their brother Robert, who lived upstream in an area not surveyed by the aid workers compiling their lists, is unclear.

William’s second daughter Edith Mary was born on 28 January 1869, and baptised by Rev Chas Garnsey on 8 February 1869 at St Matthew’s Windsor as a daughter of William and Sarah Forrester, a farmer of Cornwallis.[83] The baby died two days later and was buried at St Matthew’s on 11 February, as an infant aged 13 days.[84]

William's Death, 1869

The Hawkesbury floods kept on coming. Most of the autumn maize had been gathered when torrential rain in May 1869 brought yet another flood which rose to a height of 34 or 35 feet and inundated a vast extent of country.[85]

William was unwell for six months after this flood, suffering from his terminal illness, ‘disease of the chest’.[86] He died at Cornwallis on 22 December 1869:

On the 22nd instant, at his residence. Cornwallis, Windsor, Mr. W. Forrester, sen., after a long and painful illness. His end was peace.[87]

He was buried on 23 December as William Forrester, a farmer aged 66 years, in a quiet corner of the St Matthews Churchyard at Windsor.[88] He was laid alongside his father, his sister Elizabeth, his sister-in-law Lucy and her son (his nephew) Robert. His family chose a biblical text from Isaiah Chapter 55, Verse 6 as his epitaph: ‘Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, Call ye upon Him while He is near’ ISA.LV.Chap.VI.V.[89]

William Forrester Headstone, St Matthew's Windsor
Photo by Louise Wilson

 
William’s simple headstone contrasted dramatically from that of later-wealthy ‘Black Bill’ Forrester, absent on legendary cattle-rustling adventures in distant corners of NSW and Queensland at this time.

William had spent most of his adult life in the Wilberforce and Cornwallis area but, as for his older brothers, no obituary exists in published form because local papers do not survive for those years. He did not leave a Will.

William’s second wife was the informant on the death certificate. She gave her husband’s name as William, with no second name, and his occupation as farmer. She recorded his children only as the two daughters she had borne, one living and one dead, and did not mention his first marriage, or his son from his first marriage, or any other children. He had no grandchildren at the time of his death.

William’s surviving daughter was remembered in her uncle Henry Forrester’s Will of 15 January 1873, although her widowed mother was not a beneficiary. Nine-year-old Isabella was to receive £100 from Prosper Ridge once her uncle Henry's own siblings had died.[90]

The widow Sarah could have been the Mrs W. Forrester listed at Richmond St, Windsor in Sands Country Directory for 1878-79.[91] Confusingly, ‘Red Bill’ had also married a Sarah (his second cousin Sarah Jane Miller, a Ridge descendant) and they had been legally separated since 1870.

William’s daughter Isabella married Henry Thomas Parsons in Sydney in 1892.[92]

If William’s widow Sarah had once regarded her notional step-son William Jnr as the black sheep of her family, a man who’d notoriously made his fame and fortune in the wild north-west of the state, relationships obviously improved along with his reputation. Sarah sent a wreath to the funeral of the well-known and now much-respected racing identity ‘Black Bill’ Forrester when he died at Warwick Farm in 1901.[93]

She herself died on 31 August 1905 at 3 Kegsworth St, Leichhardt. Her funeral notice said simply: At the residence of her daughter, Mrs William Forrester, aged 79 years. Funeral at Rookwood’.[94]

Isabella Jane Parsons was recorded at this same address in 1906 with her husband Henry Thomas Parsons, a painter.[95] Isabella died soon afterwards, on 16 February 1908 at ‘Almaville’, 73 Marion St, Leichardt and was also buried at Rookwood, in the Church of England Section.[96] Isabella’s granddaughter Narelle Steer proved to be the key to unlocking the DNA connections between all branches of the Forrester family.

NOTE: The story of William's parents is told in 'Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter'. The three separate books featuring William's sisters are ‘Paul Bushell, Second Fleeter’ published in 2010, ‘Southwark Luck: the story of Charles Homer Martin, Ann Forrester and their children’ published in 2012, and ‘Richard Ridge: Trader and Bailiff in Early Colonial NSW’, coming in 2025

Forrester family stories yet to be told relate to William's brothers. John's story will be quite short as he married three times but had no known children of his own. Henry's story will largely be told through the exploits of his only surviving son George. Robert Jnr's story may require a separate book as he married twice and had a large family. 

---

[1] See the author's website for more details of her various books, articles and blogs.

[2] Hawkesbury Family History Group, Windsor NSW., The Hawkesbury Pioneer Register  (2nd edtn, 1994), p 96

[3] Col Sec's Papers, Fiche 3019, or AONSW Reel 1068, 4/1824A No 252, p5, 28 June 1820

[4] Muster, 1805-1806, pp 138-139

[5] Ibid, p 173

[6] Muster, 1811, p 47

[7] Muster, 1814, p 2

[8] Louise Wilson, ‘Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter’, (South Melbourne, 2020) has all the details of William’s early life.

[9] Bigge's Appendix, Landholder at Windsor May 1820, Ref A2131, CY 727, p 117

[10] HRA, Vol III, King to Hobart, 30 Oct 1802, pp 588-589

[11] The wording in the 1820 Memorial stated that William had not previously received land, so the earlier land grant for William Forster reported in the Sydney Gazette of 5 November 1809 was clearly for another William (this was 50 acres at St George Parish), as was the 70 acres of land granted on 5 April 1821 to a William Foster at Hunters Hill

[12] Col Sec's Papers, Fiche 3019, or SRNSW Reel 1068, Ref 4/1824A, No 252, p5, 28 June 1820

[13] Surveyor General's Office, Sydney, Syd Gaz, 5 May 1821, p 2, col a

[14] Register of Grants of Land, William Forrester, Vol 56, No 106, Land Titles Office, Sydney, NSW

[15] Muster, 1822, p 172

[16] Muster, 1822, p 551

[17] Louise Wilson, ‘Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter’, (South Melbourne, 2020) has all the details.

[18] Australian, 23 Dec 1824, p 1, col b

[19] Surveyor General's Office, Syd Gaz, Thur 8 September 1825, p 1, col b;

[20] Muster, 1823, 1824, 1825, p 196

[21] William Forrester's Grant of 60 acres at Kurrajong, 30 June 1823, Serial No 15, Folio 129, contained in Vol 11 of Grants of Land NSW Register, Old Registers, Land Titles Office, Sydney, NSW; copy on SRNSW Reel 2549, p 38, Grant No 150, Reg No 11, Folio No 129; & indexed in McNaught, Jean, Index & Registers of Land Grants, Leases & Purchases, 1792-1865, NSW Archives  (Richmond-Tweed Regional Library, 1998), p 74;

[22] SRNSW Reel 2549, p 38

[23] Entry for Sir Thomas Brisbane in ADB CHECKEDIT

[24] 'List of Persons whose Grants of Land are yet lying at the Surveyor General's Office', 3 Feb 1826; A361, Reel CY 736, ML, p 14a; the fees presumably relate to the Registration of Deeds Act, 1825, which became law from 16 Nov 1825

[25] ‘Windsor’, Syd Gaz, 8 Aug 1827, p 3

[26] Syd Gaz, 13 Jan 1825, p 4, col c

[27] Syd Gaz, 7 Apr 1825, p 4, col b

[28] Robert Forrester to Paul Bushell, Deed Poll re Sale of 60 acres, Book J, No 698, 2 Jan 1827: Land Titles Office, Sydney, NSW;

[29] From William Forrester to Paul Bushell, Bargain & Sale of 60 acres, Book G, No 799, 2 Jan 1827: Land Titles Office, Sydney, NSW

[30] Letters from Individuals to Surveyor General; SRNSW Reel 2804, Ref 2/1416, 22 Sep 1829 (Wm Forrester Letter re Illegal Possession);

[31] Louise Wilson, ‘Southwark Luck: the story of Charles Homer Martin, Ann Forrester and their children’, (Louise Wilson, South Melbourne, 2012), pp 63-69

[32] 'List of Owners & Occupiers of Houses & Land, within the Districts of Hawkesbury, not including the Nepean', 1827; A767, Reel CY 736, ML;

[33] Census of New South Wales, November 1828, p 153

[34] Wm Forrester Ltr re Illegal Possession, Ref 2/1416, SRNSW Reel 2804, 22 Sep 1829

[35] A footnote to the letter also referred to these two blocks being entered to the Registers on 30 June 1823, Robert’s on page 128, No 11, and William’s on page 129, No 11 

[36] ‘Classified Advertising’, Syd Gaz, 20 Sep 1831, p 1

[37] Col Sec's Letters re Land, AONSW Reel 1128, Item 2/7860, William Forrester Letters, 1831-1841

[38] Court of Requests, Item 4/5689

[39] McNaught, Jean, Indexer, with permission of Archives Authority of NSW., Butts & Certificates of the First Publican's Licences. 1830-1860  (Richmond Tweed Regional Library, May 1997  ), CHECKVIC PAG

[40] The King against Robert Forrester, William Forrester and John Norris for Cattle Stealing, and Jane Metcalfe for Harbouring, NSW Supreme Court, T35, Item 33/78 NSW Archives Office  (1833)

[41] Syd Gaz, 28 May 1833, p 2f

[42] Court of Requests, Item 4/5690

[43] SLV, Ref GMF 117 (BOX 20- ), pp 45-6

[44] Parish Registers, St Matthew's Church of England, Windsor, Film SAG 53, Mitchell Library, Sydney

[45] Convict Arrivals, (1836) Fiche 720/724, or p 221 AONSW Reel 908, NSW Records Office, Sydney, NSW

[46] Ibid

[47] Butlin, N.G., Cromwell, C.W., & Suthern, K.L., Eds, General Return of Convicts in NSW, 1837, (ABGR in assoc with Soc of Aust Genealogists, Sydney, 1987), line 25331

[48] Court of Requests, Item 4/5691

[49] Ibid

[50] Ibid

[51] Ibid

[52] 1841 Census of NSW; William Forrester, Cornwallis, Ref X 951, Return 327, p 40, AONSW Reel 2223, State Records NSW

[53] Col Sec's Letters re Land, AONSW Reel 1128, Item 2/7860, William Forrester Letters, 1831-1841

[54] Ibid

[55] Ibid

[56] Ibid

[57] Ibid

[58] Land Titles Office, Sydney, NSW, Old Registers  Vol 56, No 106,  p 257, William Forrester, 60 acres in District of Nelson, Promised in 1821, Title Given 1841

[59] Col Sec's Letters re Land, AONSW Reel 1128, Item 2/7860, William Forrester Letters, 1831-1841

[60] Ibid

[61] From William & Maria Forrester to James Mountford, Lease and Release of 60 acres in District of Nelson, Book 1, No 179, 23 & 24 May 1842: Land Titles Office, Sydney, NSW

[62] Parish Registers, St Matthew's Church of England, Windsor, Film SAG 53, Mitchell Library, Sydney

[63] Hawkesbury Courier and Agricultural and General Advertiser, 12 Mar 1846, p 2

[64] SMH, 22 Nov 1849, p 2

[65] ‘News from the Interior’, SMH, 1 Jun 1850, p 2

[66] ‘News from the Interior’, SMH, 15 Jun 1850, p 5

[67] Colonial Secretary’s Index, Post 1825, SRNSW Ref 50/6655, Shelf 4/2907

[68] McCarthy, Patrick, The Man Who Was Starlight, (Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1987), pp 14-15

[69] ‘Murrurundi’, Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 25 May 1871, p 3

[70] Maria Forrester, Burial Record, 26 May 1854, "St James Roman Catholic Church, Sydney," [NSW Register of Baptisms, Burials & Marriages Pre 1856], V18541804 119/1854, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC

[71] ‘Central Police Court’, SMH, 26 Aug 1854, p 7

[72] ‘Advertising’, Empire, 19 Apr 1855, p 2

[73] Persons qualified to vote for the election of members of the Legislative Assembly for the Electoral District of The Hawkesbury, 1859-60, State Reference Library, Sydney, NSW

[74] William Forrester & Sarah Blanchard, Marriage Record, Ref 3139/1863, Certified Copy issued 21 August 1984, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Sydney, NSW

[75] Hawkesbury Family History Group, The Hawkesbury Pioneer Register, Second Edition, Windsor, NSW, 1994, p 13

[76] From William Forrester & Sarah, his wife, to James Pye, Sale of Lots 14-22, part of Seville's grant near Parramatta, Book 87, No 330, 10 March 1864: Land Titles Office, Sydney, NSW

[77] From William Forrester & Sarah, his wife, to John Hoskisson, Sale of 17.5 perches, portion of Catherine Farm, (b), Book 89, No 136, 8 June 1864: Land Titles Office, Sydney, NSW

[78] Bowd, D.G., Hawkesbury Journey, p 157 re Hoskisson;

[79] From William Forrester & Sarah, his wife, to Joseph Hearn, Sale of 28 perches, portion of Catherine Farm, (a), Book 89, No 99, 8 June 1864: Land Titles Office, Sydney, NSW

[80] Louise Wilson, ‘Southwark Luck: the story of Charles Homer Martin, Ann Forrester and their children’, (Louise Wilson, South Melbourne, 2012), p 100 & p 106.

[81] SMH, 21 Oct 1864, p 11

[82] SMH, 2 Jul 1867, p 2, col f and p 3, col a

[83] PRs, St Matthew's C of E, Windsor, Film SAG 53, ML

[84] PRs, St Matthew's C of E, Windsor, Film SAG 54, ML

[85] SMH, 10 May 1869, p 5, cols b & c

[86] William Forrester, Certified Copy of Death Certificate, Ref 6563/1869, Issued 17 Oct 1984, Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Sydney, NSW

[87] SMH, Fri 31 Dec 1869, p 1, col a

[88] PRs, St Matthew's C of E, Windsor, Film SAG 54, ML

[89] Headstone, transcription by Louise Wilson

[90] Will of Henry Forrester, of Windsor, Dated 15 Jan 1873, Codicil added 4 Feb 1873, Sydney, NSW, Supreme Court of NSW Probate Index, Ref 186, Series 2, NSW Archives, Kingswood, NSW

[91] Sands Country Directory & Gazetteer of NSW, 1878-79, State Library of NSW

[92] Ref 661/1892, Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Sydney, NSW

[93] ‘The Late Mr W Forrester’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 August 1901, p 7

[94] Deaths, Sydney Morning Herald,1 September 1905, p4

[95] Electoral Rolls, 1906, Seat of Dalley, SLV

[96] Deaths, & Funerals, (Isabel Jane Parsons), Sydney Morning Herald,17 Feb 1908, p 6 & p 12