Esther Abrahams
| Esther Abrahams | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Esther Abrahams 1767 or 1771 London, England |
| Died | 26 August 1846 (aged 79) Sydney, New South Wales |
| Other names | Esther Julian Esther Johnston |
| Spouse(s) | George Johnston (de facto 1788, married November 1814–5 January 1823) |
| Children | Rosanna Juliano (1787) George Johnston (1790) David Johnston (1798) Robert Johnston (1792) Blanche Johnston(1806) |
Esther Abrahams (c.1767 or 1771 – 26 August 1846) was a Londoner sent to Australia as a convict on the First Fleet. She was de facto wife of George Johnston, who was for six months acting governor of New South Wales after leading the Rum Rebellion. Later they married.
Abrahams was Jewish at birth. At about the age of 20 (some sources give her age as 15 or 16) and while pregnant, she was tried at the Old Bailey, in London, on 30 August 1786 accused of stealing lace with a value of 50 shillings. She was found guilty of theft, although the evidence was circumstantial and was sentenced to seven years transportation. At the time of the trial her occupation was listed as "milliner". She was imprisoned in Newgate Gaol, London, where she bore an illegitimate child named Rosanna (whose name is sometimes given in sources as Roseanna), father unknown, on 18 March 1787.
Within two months, Abrahams was transported to Australia with her baby daughter on the First Fleet, departing London in May 1787 on the convict transport Prince of Wales but transferring to Lady Penrhyn mid-voyage. They reached Sydney with the Fleet in January 1788.
On board she met George Johnston, a first lieutenant in the New South Wales Marine Corps, which had accompanied the First Fleet, who offered her and her baby protection. After the landing at Sydney Cove she became his de facto wife. On 4 March 1790 her first son, George Johnston junior, was baptised. Her sentence expired in 1793. In all Esther bore Johnston seven children, including three sons, George, David and Robert. From 1800 she called herself "Julian" instead of Abrahams, after a renowned Judeo-Spanish family, originally Juliano and presumably the name of Rosanna's father. Her daughter Rosanna assumed the name Rosetta Julian. In 1805, Robert enlisted in the Royal Navy, the first Australian-born person to do so. Rosanna (now named Rosetta Julian) in 1805, aged 18 years, married emancipated convict Isaac Nichols, who was a modest businessman in the colony and who was appointed in 1809, by the military junta, the first postmaster in New South Wales.
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