Elizabeth Callaghan (1802-1852; also Eliza Thompson, later Elizabeth Batman and Sarah Willoughby) was a convict born in Ireland in 1802 and shipped to the penal colony in New South Wales at the age of 17 for passing a

counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

bank note for £1 with intent to defraud the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

. She travelled with 103 other convicts on 6 June 1821 and arrived in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

on 7 January 1822. The town of Mount Eliza near Melbourne is named after her.

Early life

Callaghan had roots in

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

, County Clare, Ireland. She worked as a servant. It has been said that her family of origin were land owners and her grandfather of exceptional wealth. There appears to be some separation of Elizabeth’s father from her grandparents and suggestions that her father was a very unhappy man. Her mother was an elegant, learned and strong lady of exceptional

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

. The family struggled, and Callaghan was sent on her way at just seventeen. Beautiful, elegant, fiery and learned – her mother was confident that she would easily find her place in the world.

Criminal record

£1 Gloucester Old Bank note for Charles Evans & James Fell 1814

On 13 September 1820 Callaghan was tried for "felonious disposal of and putting away a forged and counterfeit bank note for £1 with intent to defraud the

" at the Middlesex Gaol Delivery (

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

), London, England. She was sentenced to 14 years (death commuted) and was transported to New South Wales, arriving on 18 December 1821. On 27 March 1822, she committed an offence of being drunk and disorderly and was in HM Gaol for one week. She had to wear an iron collar for the period and to sit in

stocks Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...

twice, two hours at each time. She committed another offence on 25 June when she was caught sneaking out of her master’s premises on the 24th and remained absent all night. She was sentenced to sit in stocks for three hours that day. In 1823, Callaghan committed an offence when she was absent from her master’s premises one day and night. She was punished for a week, with bread and water rations and had to sit in the stocks for two hours each day.

Family

Callaghan married

John Batman John Batman (21 January 18016 May 1839) was an Australian grazier, entrepreneur and explorer. He is best known for his role in the founding of Melbourne. Born and raised in the then-British colony of New South Wales, Batman settled in Van Die ...

on 29 March 1828 in St John's, Launceston, Tasmania. The couple had seven daughters and a son. Their only son, John Charles Batman, died aged just 8 or 9 years old by drowning in the Yarra River on 11 January 1845. Batman became ill around 1835, and in February 1839 Elizabeth sailed to England. He died on 6 May 1839 but she only heard of this when she returned to Australia in March 1840. His will left her only £5, which she and her second husband challenged in a lengthy but unsuccessful lawsuit. After Batman died, Callaghan married William Willoughby, her former husband's clerk in 1841. In July 1853 her daughter, Elizabeth Mary, described her late mother as "Elizabeth Callan, governess".

Death and legacy

Callaghan was murdered in 1852 in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

, being beaten and kicked to death in a bar-room brawl. At this time she was known as Sara Willoughby and had been described as "of somewhat abandoned character".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Callaghan, Elizabeth 1802 births Australian convict women 1852 deaths