Elizabeth Thackery

Elizabeth Thackery is said to be the first white woman to set foot on Australia. She was from Manchester, Lancashire, England. She was tried on May 4, 1786, and sentenced to seven years' transportation for the theft of five handkerchiefs of a value of one shilling. [ [http://fmpro.uow.edu.au/FirstFleet/FMPro?-db=ff.fp3&-format=detail.htm&-op=cn&-recid=33321&-find= Elizabeth THACKERY] ] She is the last-known female survivor of the First Fleet, and is said to have been the first ashore at Botany Bay when she arrived on January 26 1788 on the "Friendship".

She left England on the convict transport "Friendship" in May 1787. She was about 20 at the time. She was placed in irons a number of times during the voyage.

After arriving in Australia, she received 25 lashes on July 14, 1791 for coming in from her settlement without permission. She lived for a while with James Dodding and subsequently made her way to van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on the "Porpoise".Fact|date=February 2007 There she married Samuel King. They settled in the Derwent Valley.

There is a headstone to a "Betty King" in the churchyard of Magra, Tasmania (3 km north of New Norfolk), who was buried August 6, 1856, aged 93. [ [http://www.wwt.com.au/townsno.htm Towns, Cities, Mountains & Lakes in Tasmania, Australia] ]

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