Isaac Nichols was an English-born Australian farmer, shipowner and public servant who was a convict transported to New South Wales on the Third Fleet, on the Admiral Barrington.
12 Facts About Isaac Nichols
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Isaac Nichols was transported for seven years in 1790 for stealing.
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Isaac Nichols is most remembered as the first postmaster of the postal service now known as Australia Post.
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Isaac Nichols used his house in lower George St, the Rocks, as the post office, going to newly arrived ships to pick up the mail and then posting a list of recipients outside his house.
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When Governor Macquarie arrived in 1810 he approved of Isaac Nichols, and appointed him principal superintendent of convicts.
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Isaac Nichols's home was the scene of many social functions, including the Bachelors' Ball and the annual dinners to celebrate the foundation of the colony.
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Isaac Nichols was a major supplier of meat to government stores and a generous subscriber to public causes.
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On 11 September 1796 Isaac Nichols married Mary Warren, who died by drowning in October 1804.
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On 18 February 1805, at the age of 34, Isaac Nichols married 18-year-old Rosanna Abrahams, daughter of Esther Abrahams.
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Shortly before Isaac Nichols died in 1819 he sent the two elder boys to England to be educated.
11.
Isaac Nichols David, described as "gentleman", declared himself insolvent in 1836 to escape his creditors.
12.
Isaac Nichols was bankrupted in the financial crisis of 1842 but later returned to his legal practice and later still became a member of Parliament.