Henry and Susannah had applied to be married many times while they were still in the Norwich Castle Gaol. These applications were refused. When the time came for them to be reunited Lord Sydney gave permission for a marriage to take place before sailing but this did not happen. Captain Arthur Phillip also requested that marriage.

 

It was therefore understandable that the couple should have been included as no 3 couple, in the first ceremony, once the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson. 

 

So in the new settlement at Sydney Cove, Henry and Susannah signed with a cross, a wedding register page (still in existence). The page written in script shows 5 couples in the combined ceremony officiated by Reverend Richard Johnson the first Chaplain of the Colony.

 

As Henry and Susannah were the only couple of the five to produce an ongoing family who survived, they were the First European Family in Australia.

 

The hand written script page is too hard to read for us to reproduce for you here. A copy of the document can be seen in a book at the Mitchell Library, Sydney titled  "The Beginnings of Responsible Government in Australia." The First Civil Law Suit "  brought by the couple against the establishment also appears in that book. (see our page on the” Law Suit”).

 

The original document is in the hands of St.Phillip’s Church, Sydney, as it shows the beginnings of Protestant Records in Australia.