Norah Murphy

53

Beth Taylor on 9th February 2026

• MURPHY, Norah (or Honorah) (c1779-1828) Tried - 2 June 1813 Middlesex (Old Bailey) Norah appeared before the Old Bailey Court in London when she was aged 20. She apparently had a room in the Lahey household, as did Jeremiah Riley. When Mr Riley came home after work he found his chest had been broken into and some clothes stolen. He accused Norah, who was later found near a pawn-broker’s. She told the Police that she had lost the money she had received and also the pawn-broker’s ticket. The Judge found Norah, a servant, guilty and sentenced her to 7 years transportation. She was placed on the Broxbornebury as a convict, in 1814 to New South Wales. In JH Bent’s journal he described that an Irish woman named Murphy was the mother of a child that died. It is most likely that the mother was Norah and not Catherine Murphy as Catherine gave birth to a child one month after landing in Sydney. On her arrival in Sydney, Norah was sent to work for Mr Hall in Sydney, probably as a servant and about 1815 gave birth to an illegitimate child, father’s name not known.. Child born to Catherine Murphy and father unknown: • William STEPHENSON (or Murphy) born c1815 Sydney, died ? Norah should have been issued a Certificate of Freedom, at the expiration of her 7 year term. However no record of the document has been found. In 1822 Norah stated that she held a Ticket of Leave, however the surviving documentation is missing from the NSW State Records (Archives). The ticket allowed Norah the freedom to work for wages and support herself and her son. She was a housekeeper and they resided in Kent St., Sydney in 1825. Norah Murphy aged about 35, died at the Lunatic Asylum in Liverpool in April 1828 and the service was held at St Luke’s Church. Norah most likely was buried in a paupers grave. It is unclear what happened to her son William after his mother’s death. He would have been aged about 13 years-of age. There is a record that shows an 8 year-old boy named William Murphy living in the Male Orphan school at Cabramatta around the same time, however this boy’s parentage has not been determined. Notes from the book “Journey to a New Life…” the story of the ships Emu & Broxbornebury by Elizabeth Hook (3rd ed. 2014). I am the author & can be contacted on tbeth3370@gmail.com for further info

338

Penny-Lyn Beale on 12th April 2021

1822 - Sydney Population Books. Nora Murphy. T.L. Broxbournbury. Sentence; Life. William Stephenson. Age; 7. Born Colony. Child 1825 - Convict Muster. Norah Murphy. Ticket of Leave. Broxbournbury - 1814. Life. Single. Kent Street. Sydney William Murphy. Age; 10. Born Colony. Child of "