Ann McDermott, ex Inchinnan
Ann McDermott was aged 15 when she arrived in Sydney on the Inchinnan. Her parents were Michael and Catherine, and were both dead. The Immigration Agent recorded that she was from "Ballyna" (Ballina), and that she could not read or write.
The Immigration Agent also recorded that she had a "sister named Catherine McDermott living in Sydney". It is possible that this was the Catherine McDermott who left Ballina workhouse on the Lady Kennaway three months previously. The Lady Kennaway went to Melbourne, so if she was Ann McDermott's sister, she would not have been in Sydney, but it is possible that Ann did not know where her sister had been sent. Parents' names were not recorded in Melbourne, but Catherine also declared that neither of her parents were living. The Famine Orphan Girl Database records that Ann McDermott was sent to the Maitland Depot. From there Ann was apprenticed for a period of four years to John Collins. Within six months the Maitland Mercury (26 September 1849) reported that Ann had brought John Collins to court "to answer the charge of his wife's having ill-used his apprentice". Ann McDermott claimed that Mrs Collins had verbally and physically abused her. John Collins' account was of Ann's continued defiance against his wife's orders, and his claim that "she had proved a very bad girl". Though the court dismissed the case, Ann's indentures with John Collins were cancelled and she was cautioned "as to her future conduct in obeying orders". It is not known what happened to Ann McDermott after this event. |
© Barbara Barclay (2015)