Nathaniel Lucas (1764–1818) was a

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convicts ...

transported to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on the

First Fleet The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...

. His occupation was listed as

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

Life

Lucas was born in

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, to parents John Lucas & Mary Bradford in 1764. Lucas was tried at the

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 London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 7 July 1784 for feloniously stealing clothing with a value of 40

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence ...

. Lucas was sentenced to

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

for seven years and left

on the ''Scarborough'' in May 1787.He left behind a wife in England when transported to Australia who was illiterate based on her signing an 'X' in place of her name on a marriage certificate located.

Norfolk Island

After the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson in January 1788, Phillip ordered

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

Philip Gidley King Captain Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1800 to 1806. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detai ...

to lead a party of fifteen convicts (9 men and 6 women) and seven free men to take control of

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

and prepare for its commercial development. Lucas was aboard , which arrived at Norfolk on 6 March 1788. On board ''Supply'' Nathaniel met Olivia Gascoigne (''b. 1763 - d. 12 Jun 1830'') whom he married on 5 November 1791, on Norfolk Island. Nathaniel and Olivia had thirteen children, although twins (Sarah and Mary) were killed at the age of two years when a large Norfolk Island Pine fell on the Lucas house. In 1791 he received a grant of and in 1793 purchased another from Charles Heritage, a former marine. Lucas took up farming and in August 1802 sold

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

and

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

worth £450 to the government stores on the island. On 22 May 1802, Lucas was appointed Master Carpenter at Norfolk Island.

New South Wales

In April 1805, Lucas returned with his family to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in the . The ship carried materials for a government windmill which Lucas was to erect in Sydney, and he was allowed to carry materials for another windmill for himself. Nathaniel also brought several pairs of capital mill stones.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. Dated 23 June 1805.
An excellent Post Mill, the first that has been erected in the settlement is now completed by Mr Nathaniel Lucas, behind Back Row East. It was undertaken and finished within the space of six weeks; has been for several weeks at work, is capable of grinding, with a sufficiency of wind, upwards of six bushels per hour, which was last week accomplished for 12 hours successively.

In 1808, Nathaniel was appointed superintendent of carpenters in Sydney and held this position until his retirement in December 1814. 3 Jan 1810 Nathaniel was noted to be on the list of persons holding civil and military employment at Sydney and settlements adjacent, as Superintendent of Carpenters. From 1810 until his death, Nathaniel appears on numerous Colonial Secretary's documents. The majority of these documents refer to Nathaniel surveying land or property and constructing or repairing various structures. 1812, saw the completion of a Post Windmill behind the Battery at Dawes Point. The price of grinding wheat into flour was fifteen pence per bushel, if brought and taken away by the owners of the wheat, or eighteen pence per bushel if brought and taken away by the owners of the Mill. During the construction of the St Luke's Church in 1818, which was designed by

Francis Greenway Francis Greenway (20 November 1777 - September 1837) was an English-Australian convict and colonial architect. After being convicted of forgery in England and subsequently transported to New South Wales, Australia (known then as New Holland) ...

, Greenway alleged that Lucas was much addicted to the bottle and that he was using very poor stone at the church.

Death

After some days of being noticed absent, his body was discovered on the bank of a local river. It was determined he had been there about six days.

References

External links