The recipients of Land Grants in the area North East of Parramatta seems to have been the type of Convict or Settler whom the Government could trust. There is ample proof of this. Many had roles in the administration of the colony, and it was from there where the members of the local Constabulary and the Parramatta Loyal Society (Local Milita) were raised.

There are some odd aspects to the surviving maps. Firstly they seem to be cullumitive in that they contain grants from 1792 and those from 1815 and possibly later. Some are labled with the names of later grantee's while other's are not. Scale is also a problem. The art of Surveying, Mapmaking and Draftmanship was an important skill to be mastered for both Army and Naval Officers. Some such as Governor Hunter were highly skilled "draftsmen". The inherient difficulties with measuring distance were occasionally mentioned in the records. Sometimes "ships chains" were used.

(A) John Randall Land Grant 29th November 1792. 60 Acres

(B) John Martin Land Grant 29th November 1792. 50 Acrea

(C) Joseph Hickey Grose (Brewer, Merchant & Trader of Taramasalata) 300 Acres was transported on the convict ship "Baring" in 1815. His Trial took place in London at The Old Bailey on 15 September 1813, he was listed as aged 24 years and was sentenced to 7 years. Charge: Theft - Grand Larceny. was the nephew of Lt. Gov. of NSW, Major Francis Grose (1758-1814),of Rum Corp infamy. J. H. Grose's father, Howell William Grose (1771-1847),was a brother of Major Francis Grose. According to Joseph Holt in 1800, Major Francis Grose was John Randall's employer.

(D) George Barrington. Initial grant 30 Acres. George was an Anglo/Irish pickpocket and con-man of some note in British Society. Well educated, he was a great story teller although the facts never seemed to match the reality. After a lengthy career on the wrong side of the law he was finally arrested and convicted in Sepetember 1790 of theft of a gold watch and chain at Enfield Racecourse in London. He was tried at the Old Bailey and sentenced to Transportation for seven years to New South Wales.

He arrived in Sydney on the convict transport Active in September 1791 and was sent to Toongabbie where his excellent conduct earned him a role as a watchman at the Government storehouse.
By November 1792 he was conditionally pardoned and Governor Hunter appointed him Chief Constable at Parramatta in 1796. Being numerate, literate, and "a gentleman" made him a standout candidate in those circumstances and he is often credited with considerable contribution to the artistic life of the early colony. Some of these may have been a fantasy. He also received a number of land grants including the 30 Acre one shown above adjacent to John Randall's land.
His rehabilitation and success seems to have been brief, and he died at Parramatta on December the 27th 1804.
Reference: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barrington-george-1746

(E) Richard Partridge.
Richard was tried, convicted, and sentenced to seven years transportation at the Old Bailey on April the 30th 1783 for the theft of some clothes. He was initially sent towards America on the transport the Swift in August 1783. The Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary was signed on September the 3rd of the same year. The Revolutionary War had been petering out for at least six months and the convicts were quite aware that they would not be acceptable to the victorious ex-colonialists. There was a real chance that they would instead be dumped on the shore of some African Slave Port to fend for themselves. Hence they mutinied.

Partridge made his way back to England and was recaptured, retried and sentenced to death on 10/9/1783. This in turn was commuted on to a sentence of Transportation for Life. He arrived in Sydney aboard the Scarborough in January 1788 with the First Fleet.

Richard soon entered a domestic relationship with Mary Greenwood who bore him two children, a boy Richard 3/11/1793, and a girl Mary Ann on 15/9/1797. They were married by Marsden in 1810. Mary Ann Partridge had a child, George to a George Bowerman, Indian 1819 (1791-1820) in 1818. George senior was hung in 1820 for Highway Robbery, a crime that he didn't actually commit. George Bowerman junior later entered a domestic relationship with Mary Randall Martin's daughter Mary Ann Martin (1822-1870). The latter's actual father is unclear, it may have been John Martin or Henry Pearce.

(G) and (F) respectively. Hunts Creek and Crocs Cave.

(H) Samuel Mobbs

(I) Thomas and John Hackett.

Interestingly both the Grants of JM and JR at the Northern Boundary farms are clearly shown. We know from the records that the algorithm for allocating Convict Grants, was 30 Acres for an expired sentence, 20 Acres for a couple, and 10 for each child. JR got 60 Acres, and JM 50. Curiously early maps often show JM's site to be larger that JR's. Given the inaccuracies of the surveying process this is not too unexpected. They measured using a "ships chain" as an instrument. The surveyors may have been allowing for usable land rather than neat accurate surface area.

The second map is an original showing much the same thing with Pennant Hills Road intersecting the blocks. This seems to move North/South as time progresses. The third map is my interpretation of the site on a modern map. We have two constants, the Cave on Hunts Creek, and the location of John Martin's 1822 house at 204 Pennant Hills Road. The cave, figures in an incident in 1806. It still exists, and seems to be just your typical Hawkesbury Sandstone overhang shelter shape. Hunts Creek is now a reserve, it stretches down to the dam on Lake Parramatta, and eventually the Parramatta River. It was the early water supply for the town. To the North of Hunts Creek is the modern suburb of North Rocks. Back then it was called the "Rocks of Jerusalem", or "Jerusalem Rocks", after an enormous natural sandstone structure on the end of the escarpment. This was mined away to make the Parramatta Prison, and the wall of Parramatta Dam later in the 1800's.

The story in "General" Joseph Holt's book relating how he came to buy John Randall's fine farm for Forty Pounds and a letter of recommendation so the latter could join the NSW Corps is well known and is repeated elsewhere on this site.

Holt moved into the dwelling there and he named it "Mount Hester" after his wife. Interesting Holt wasn't a Convict but an Exile. This is because he was an active participate in the United Irishmen revolt of 1798 in Wicklow County, escaping the carnage of the Battle of Vinegar Hill in Wicklow, he led a group of about a thousand rebels for months later until he surrendered in an amnesty. He was never convicted of any crime so wasn't technically a convict.

He came out to New South Wales as a freeman with his wife and family on the Minerva from Cork, Ireland. On the latter he made a fortunate acquaintance with William Cox who was also heading to NSW as the Paymaster of the Rum Corps. The ship arrived in Sydney 10th January 1800. Holt gained employment with Cox, helping to manage his many land grants and convict workers. He bought John Randall's property on the 10th of November 1800.

The land was registered in the name of Joshua Holt his son.

Many of the recently arrived convicts in NSW were however convicted veterans of the uprising. The British treated Holt with suspicion because of his background as a leader. There is some evidence that he was indeed a "leader in waiting" for a coming successful Irish insurrection in the colony. He was actually sent to Norfolk Island as a convict for some time before being released in 1806 and returned to Parramatta.
In his journal Holt describes setting up a Rum Distillery in Crocs Cave on Hunts Creek at the back of his (previously Randall's) property. He was attracted to the enterprise after seeing the enormous profits the Officers of the NSW Corps were making off their stills. He was betrayed almost straight away by a network of spivs tasked with watching his every move. He as arrested by a NSW Private on a horse and two local Constables. One source names the Corpsman as a John Martin. He was actually a James Martin, a member of Captain Abbott’s Company in Parramatta. JM was not present despite being a Constable and living very closeby. Holt was freed after having posted a bond of two Hundred Pounds and made a promise to not distil Alcohol for one year. While the Governor King had issued a decree banning the practice it was not strictly illegal at the time. Shortly later it was made illegal, but the distilling of the much weaker Peach Brandy was tolerated. Holt prospered in the colony and was finally allowed to go back to Ireland. His extended family remained and also prospered.

Reference: A RUM Story: The adventures of Joseph Holt: Thirteen Years in NSW 1800-1812. It's also available free via Gutenberg Project.

Reference: Sydney Gazette Sunday 8th June 1806 DISTILLERIES. In consequence of information received by Government a search was ordered to be made on and about a farm known by the name of Barrington's old Farm, at the North Rocks. The persons dispatched on this duty perceived a fire ; and cautiously approaching, beheld two white men sitting by it, and a third procuring fuel at a short distance. Upon a nearer view they were satisfied that a still was then actually at work ; and while consulting upon the most proper steps to be pursued for surprising and apprehending the workmen, J. Holt and a man named Healey coming accidently upon them, were instantly secured ; the party levelling their pistols at the others, compelled two to surrender themselves, the third effecting his escape. The still, which was then actually at work, was knocked to pieces, and the head and worm taken into Parramatta with the prisoners, ho were examined before the Commanding Officer and Rev. Mr. MARSDEN. Holt was admitted to bail until His EXCELLENCY's determination respecting him as a principal should be known, and the others ordered a corporal punishment. Further search being immediately ordered, seven casks of cyder were found, containing numerous ingredients to promote fermentation, &c. together with a few quarts of pernicious spirit, concealed in the cavity of a rock ; and On Monday, in consequence of a like information, several constables were sent to search for a still and other apparatus on the farm of R. [sic] Love at the Field of Mars ; from whence a large boiler was produced, supposed to be for the purpose of distilling. The owner was in consequence ordered to find bail for his good behaviour. The activity of Government in restraining this infamous practice, which is certainly a most atrocious attack upon the health ot the inhabitants, will, it is to be hoped, very soon effectually suppress every inclination to attempt it. The rewards held out for the purpose of bringing the delinquents forward are a sufficient testimony of the most serious determination to crush the evil, by placing every principal in the power of his meanest assistant or associate ; and as the principals, agents, and devise-rs can be esteemed in no other light than as the mercenary factors of pestilential calamity, actuated by a principle of self advantage to spread disorder and contamination, it becomes a public duly assiduously to promote detection, as the only probable means of effectually subduing the evil, and suppressing the dangerous evaporation of so malevolent a spirit. Among other ingredients found at the first mentioned place was a quantity of wheat ground and prepared for the mash tub — a considerable aggravation to the offence at such a juncture as the present, when from an unfortunate and unexpected calamity our internal resources are restricted, and when the pressure of immediate exigency should have restrained so gross a misapplication of the residue.