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ANTHONY ROPE – Convict-Alexander
and ELIZABETH PULLEY-Convict-
Prince of Wales
Anthony Rope
was baptised on 1st August 1755, at the round-towered
church of St Marys, Norton Subcourse, Norfolk, England.
He himself was illiterate and a labourer but he came
from a family of carpenters and brickmakers and would
have been able to use such handy skills when he came to
Sydney Cove.
At his trial at Chelmsford Assizes in Essex on 10 March
1785 he, now close to 30 years of age, was found guilty
of stealing clothing and coin to the value of 35
shillings from Robert Gosling and Robert Bradley. As was
usual at the time the full list of what was stolen is
recorded in the Assizes records:
Two printed cotton gowns of the value of
twenty shillings, one Petticoat made of silk and worsted
of the value of five shillings, one silk neck
handkerchief of the va1ue of eighteen pence, one pair of
women’s leather shoes of the value of one shilling, one
pair of metal buckles plated with silver of the value of
six pence one man’s hat of the value of five shillings,
one pair of men’s leather shoes of the valve of two
shillings, one pair of other men’s shoe buckles plated
with silver of the value of one shilling, and one hempen
sack of the value of sixpence of the goods and chattels
of the said Robert Gosling; and one pair of others men’s
leather shoes of the value of five shillings, one pair
of other metal buckles plated with silver of the value
of three shillings, one cotton waist coat of the value
of two shillings, one linen shirt of the value of
sixpence, silk handkerchiefs of the value of two
shillings, one piece of silver coin of the proper coin
of this realm called a half crown of the value of two
shillings and six pence, and one piece of proper silver
coin of this realm called a shilling of the goods and
monies of Robert Bradley in the same dwelling house.
He was sentenced to transportation for seven years and
after two years on a hulk at Woolwich came to New South
Wales on the Alexander, one of the convict
transport ships of the First Fleet. There is no record
of any misdemeanours committed by Anthony Rope while on
the voyage.
Elizabeth Pulley,
also from Norfolk, was born in Felthorpe, a village just
thirty kilometres north-west of Anthony Rope’s
birthplace at Norton Subcourse. Her baptism took place
on 21 Feb 1762 at St Margarets in Felthorpe with her
parents listed as Tobias and Alice Pully. She and her
three brothers were orphaned by the time she was 6 and
all four may have been then sent to the workhouse.
During her teenage years Elizabeth ran wild. In July
1779 she was acquitted of stealing clothes and just a
year later she was sentenced to three weeks in Wymondham
Bridewell prison for stealing clothes from a house near
Drayton. Her punishment included a public whipping in
the market place.
Things were getting worse by 1781 when again she was in
court for stealing clothing and money belonging to a Mr
Pightling of Heatherset. This crime earned her a year’s
hard labour at Aylsham Bridewell. Not long after her
release she was in trouble again and in March 1783 she
was tried at Thetford Assizes and convicted of stealing
a large quantity of food and material (worsted) from the
shop of a Mrs Elizabeth Minns of Hethersett. This time
she was sentenced to death by hanging but was reprieved
by the judge as he left for London and she then spent
three years languishing in gaol at Norwich castle while
awaiting transportation. A short time in the Dunkirk
hulk at Plymouth preceded her voyage to New South
Wales on the transport
Friendship.
Along with 20 other female convicts
Elizabeth suffered dreadfully, as she herself was in
irons for 72 days of the 93 days from 13 May till 13
August 1787. Lt Ralph Clark’s diary pinpoints five
fighting women which he at one stage labelled as damned
whores. Elizabeth Pulley was listed as one of the five.
The ship travelled in extremely hot weather and it was
lice-ridden, so her conditions were very uncomfortable.
Thankfully, when the Fleet reached Cape Town (South
Africa), she was transferred to the Prince of Wales
ship with other female convicts. This was to make room
for animals and other supplies to be taken on board the
Friendship.
Upon the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove, all
the convicts were put to work in various jobs necessary
to build shelter and feed all the people. Anthony Rope
was sent to work in the brickfields, which were located
near what is now Central Station in Sydney. In Anthony's
small amount of spare time he built a hut there for
himself and this was finished by May 1788. Elizabeth,
along with other women, would have been put to work
sewing, cleaning, washing and cooking.
Anthony and Elizabeth met on the first night that the
women of the Fleet were set down at Sydney Cove on 6th
February 1788. They were married on 19th May 1788 by the
Reverend Richard Johnson, celebrating with meat
from a goat that one naval officer reported as missing.
Their son Robert Rope was possibly one of the
first children conceived and born in the settlement.
Anthony was given a grant of land at The Ponds which is
now part of the Sydney suburb of Dundas, but this later
had to be sold to repay debt. Farming was very harsh and
the settlers were constantly deluged by floods and
ravaged by fires and droughts.
The family moved to various farms out in the west of
Sydney as they looked for land that would safely grow
crops. It should be noted that although the farms were
granted to the owners, Anthony was the first settler at
all of the farms he moved to, so he first had to clear
the land before he could put crops in. He also had to
build the family home every time they moved.
Anthony did extra jobs to make money along the way. At
one stage he was employed to build a dwelling for the
workers on Elizabeth King's farm Dunheved in
1807.
Recent research by Rope family historians has identified
at least five sites where the family lived as they moved
from leasehold to leasehold:
Rope's Farm
at The Ponds, now Dundas; a farm at Toongabbie;
Tumbledown Barn at Mulgrave Place, now Riverstone,
near Windsor; Badgery's Farm on the Nepean River
near Richmond; and Jordan Hill in what is now
Llandilo, on the west bank of South Creek. The stretch
of land leading to this leasehold was known as Rope's
Paddock for many years. The new suburb, Ropes Crossing,
has been named after him as it lies near where the
family farmed at Jordan Hill.
Stories about the Ropes’ eight children and their
descendants can be found on the website of the
In order the children were Robert b1788, Mary
1791, Elizabeth 1794, John 1795, Sarah
1798, Susannah c1800, William 1805 and
Elizabeth Ann 1808.
Elizabeth Pulley
died on 9th August 1837 aged 75 years (note her stone
reads 80 years), her husband Anthony Rope died on
20th April 1843 aged 88 years (note his stone reads 89
years).
Anthony and Elizabeth are buried with extended family
members and friends in Castlereagh Anglican Cemetery
where the Fellowship of First Fleeters installed
memorial plaques in 1985 (Elizabeth) and 1995 (Anthony).
The above information is an edited
version of material provided by Rosemary Roberts,
Chairperson of the Rope-Pulley Family Heritage
Association.
Extra details came from an article by
Dick Meadows which appeared in EDP Weekend
(Norfolk, UK) on 14 February 2014.
Readers are also referred to
Dispatched Downunder, pages 180-187.
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