Jeremiah Bush was sentenced at Norwich Assizes on 19 March 1833 to transportation for sheep stealing. He has no previous convictions. Consigned to the convict hulk York in Portsmouth Harbour and appears in the ship’s quarterly muster for the quarter ending 30 June 1833, as “number 3969, Jeremiah Bush, 35, sheep stealing, Norwich (sentenced) 19 March 1833, life – to New South Wales 26 June.”
Jeremiah arrived in NSW on 3 November 1833 from Portsmouth, having left there on 4 July. According to the convict indents, Jeremiah was 36 years old; could read and write; was catholic; married with 5 male and 3 female offspring. He was described as a farm servant and shepherd, 5 foot 71/2 inches tall with a ruddy complexion, dark brown hair mixed with grey and had a scar on the back of the top or the 4th finger, left hand. The nail of same was split. Jeremiah was first assigned to the property of Colonial Secretary, Alexander McLeay at Burrill River, near Ulladulla but on the 1837 muster finds him, still with McLeay, but nearer to Yass, at Bialla, another McLeay property run by George McLeay.
His wife Mary and all the children with the exception of his eldest, married daughter, Elizabeth, subsequently joined him there having come out with his brother Arthur on the Canton, which arrived on 3 September 1835.
Jeremiah got his Ticket of Leave on 10 January 1842 the details as follows:
Ticket of Leave No 42/175, 10 January 1842
Prisoner No 33/2786 – Jeremiah Bush – Aurora – Dawson 1833
Allowed to remain in the District of Camden on the recommendation of the Bench dated Sept, 1841
Altered to YASS 16 February 1842 per letter from Camden Bench No 42/1541.
In the Muster Roll of Ticket of Leave Holders in the Yass District, 1843/1851, Jeremiah appears, in August 1843, as a general servant, employed by John Bush as Jerrawa Creek. Similarly, on 1 January 1844 and 1 January 1845 as Jeremiah Bush, Labourer/settler, self employed, of Jerrawa, near Chain of Ponds, the Gap.
He was recommended for Conditional Pardon on 28 September 1847Conditional Pardon No 48/930 was granted on 1 June 1848.
After the death of his first wife, Mary, at Jerrawa in March 1856 he remarried Mrs Eleanor Elizabeth Hanton in October 1856 at Yass.
Extract from St Clements Marriage Register, Yass, (ANL 3085/38/1) 13 October 1856, Jeremiah Bush, widower, aged 58, freeholder of Norfolk, (6 children living, 2 dead) of Jerrawa Creek, married Eleanor Elizabeth Hanton, widow (2 children living, 3 dead) aged 50, born London, parents Michael Poole, courier and Mary Emerson. Witnesses: Arthur Poole and Hannah Bush. Hannah Bush is in fact the former Mrs Hannah Bunfield, wife of Jeremiah’s son James.
Mary, is buried at the Emmanuel Church of England site on the western side of Jerrawa Creek between the village of Dalton and the Greendale Methodist Church.
Jeremiah died 11 August 1881 at Jerrawa Creek and is buried at the Greendale Methodist Church. Eleanor died 1881 in Gunning. Eleanor is buried next to Jeremiah at Greendale Methodist Church.
Extract from Regeneration – A Bush Family Genealogy 1765 – 1995
Arthur Bush (1789 - 1876) and his wife Maria (1794 - 1884). Arthur was the eldest of the two Bush brothers. Arthur and his wife arrived in Australia in 1835 with their five children.
Jeremiah Bush (1797 - 1881) arrived in Australia as a convict in 1833. His wife, Mary and eight children, arrived two years later.
