At the Leicester Summer Assizes on July 27, 1833 John Scarborough received a sentence of Death on the charge of housebreaking.
Later the sentence was commuted to Transportation for Life.
Discrepancies surround his birth date but John was christened on August 7, 1813 in Leicester.
His parents John and Alice had two other children Samuel (born around 1810) and Alice (born around 1815) who later emigrated to the United States in 1844 and 1843 respectively.
On January 15, 1834, John was transported aboard the convict ship Hive to the Colony of New South Wales. He is described as being five foot six inches, having light brown hair, grey eyes and able to read and write. He received his conditional pardon on October 1, 1848.
On February 16, 1860, he married Catherine Grant in Shoalhaven, New South Wales.
Catherine had arrived in Australia from Ireland on January 17, 1854, aboard the emigrant ship ‘Omega’.
John worked in the timber industry in Shoalhaven and the couple began a family with children Alice and John born there.
The timber industry soon declined and this prompted a move to Queensland where the rest of the children, William, George, Catherine, Mary Ann, Julia and Robert Martin, were born.
After a time in Logan Village, the family moved to the Canungra district.
Tragically, in 1868, four year old William developed sunstroke after not wearing his hat during particularly hot weather and passed away on the December 26.
Also, family history has it that young George Scarborough went missing out in the bush, however research cannot confirm this.
In 1873 John applied for Portion 65, an area of 100 acres, and lodged his ‘Certificate of Fulfilment’ on January 7, 1879.
The family ran a dairy and grew arrowroot.
Later John acquired another 100 acres at Witheren and at one time he and Catherine ran a store in the Canungra township across from where the Information Centre now stands.
He was a civic minded individual who was instrumental in establishing the first school in the area.
In around 1893 John received an injury whilst endeavouring to scare some aboriginal children who were pilfering.
One of the children threw a spear which struck John in the leg.
These were children well known to the family and reprisals were not sought. In 1895 he passed away from blood poisoning from the wound he received two years previously.
He was buried on his property on March 13, 1895 and due to the endeavours of many descendants and locals, his grave was preserved when a housing development threatened its’ existence.
Catherine lived until 1925 and is buried in Dutton Park Cemetery.
We wish to thank Mr Bob Scarborough of Kyogle, great-grandson of John and Catherine, for his invaluable assistance with this story.
