PROLOGUE

 
 
This is the second volume in my series on births, deaths and marriages in 
the early colony of New South Wales. It covers the years 1801 to 1810, the 
second decade of the young colony's existence, the first of the nineteenth 
century.
 
The early colonial church registers of baptisms, marriages and burials are 
somewhat disappointing, to say the least, from a genealogical point of view. 
Often there is just a date and a name, no place nor other identifying 
information. This series of books attempts to redress this problem by combining 
the data in the church registers with data from the shipping indents, the 
early colonial musters of 1802, 1806, 1811, 1814, 1822, 1825 and the "1828 Census 
of New South Wales" .
 
The population grew from 7,378 convict arrivals (6,023 males and 1,355 females) 
plus the New South Wales Corps in the first 'decade' to 4,296 convict arrivals 
(3,310 males and 986 females) in the second. The New South Wales Corps was 
replaced by the 73rd Regiment. In the first 'decade' there were 1,800 births 
but 1,820 deaths. In the second decade the corresponding figures were 3,142 
births against 1,414 deaths. Thus the population of the colony almost doubled.
 
The number of births almost doubled from the previous 'decade'. For this second 
decade the rate of identification of the fathers fell somewhat from 86% 
to 74%. Similarly the rate of identification of the mothers also fell 
from 86% to 77%.
 
The second decade of the young colony's existence saw the beginings of 
an increase in morality in the community. Especially with the arrival of the 
new governor, the dour Presbyterian Scottish Colonel Lachlan Macquarie 
at the head of his 73rd Regiment, things seemed to improve dramatically. 
The number of marriages in 1810 was nearly five times the previous yearly 
average and for the first time marriages greatly outnumber de facto 
relationships. As a consequence the illegitimacy rate also began to fall.
 
For this second decade the rate of identification of the grooms actually 
increased slightly from 93% to 94% and for the brides from 91% to 93%.
 
The number of de facto relationships was virtually the same even though the 
population had increased by 60%.
 
Even though the population increased the number of deaths fell from 1,820 
to 1,414 (more than one fifth) reflecting the extend of the near starvation 
during the early years of the settlement.
 
Another sign of the increasing morality in the colony was the fact that 
in spite of the increase in population the number of executions was virtually 
the same (47 versus 51) and what's more, nine of these (almost a fifth) were 
for the 1804 rebellion at Castle Hill.
 
For this second decade the rate of identification of the deceased fell from 
84% to 75% reflecting the greater difficulty of investigating deaths.
 
Thus by the end of the second decade of the colony's existence it can be estimated, 
using these birth and death details explained in this study, that the population 
was 13,382 plus the 73rd Regiment.

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