British 1797 penny, smoothed and hand-engraved 'Jno. Hobbs, Died May 17th 1840, Thos. Hobbs'. John Hobbs (1810-1840). His father, Robert Hobbs, had a long criminal record, was sentenced to 7 years transportation to NSW for stealing calico cloth, transported on the 'Active' on the Third Fleet, arriving 1791. 'These ships had been unhealthy and had buried several convicts on their passage. The sick, which they brought in, were landed immediately, and many of those who remained and were not so ill as to require medical assistance, were brought on shore in an emaciated and feeble condition, particularly the convicts from the Active'. Three and a half months after his arrival on the 9th January 1792, he was tried for stealing a pair of shoes and a hat belonging to Edward Conroy and Thomas Regan. Having admitted that he was guilty, he begged for mercy but received 150 lashes. The Muster of 1802 shows Robert Hobbs granted 'free', shown as having 25 acres, the 1806 Muster shows Robert Hobbs, settler, at the Lagoon on 60 acres. In this same year Robert Hobbs was among 244 settlers of the Hawkesbury who sent an address to Governor Bligh. In 1810, son John, mentioned on this token, was born at Windsor NSW. At the time of the 1828 Census, his father farmed seven acres, cleared and cultivated at Pitt Town and owned one horse and 45 cattle. Two children were still living with him, Edward (24) and Sarah (13), his son Robert Jr, and his family are listed as farming four acres and living in Pitt Town with John (18), working as a labourer. John's mother Bridget (Eslin, Heslin, Heasling and many other aliases) Hobbs from Dublin, Ireland, convict, arrived on 'Sugar Cane' in 1793; her brother Patrick Heslin, convict, arrived 1793 on the 'Boddington'. Bridget, her family and friends were members of a gang who stole bleached linen from the bleach greens in Dublin. Known gang members were Patrick Haslin (father), executed, his wife involved but her name not given. Their known children were Patrick (transported, 'Boddingtons', 1793), Bridget (transported, 'Sugar Cane', 1793), John (fate unknown), Joseph Kearns alias Dungan (transported, 'Boddingtons', 1793), Mary Hughes (transported, 'Sugar Cane', 1793), Michael Dooley (probably executed), Thomas Hughes (fate unknown). John Hobbs died in Sydney NSW, on 17th May 1840, aged 30 years, his trade listed as a publican.