death_place death_date children birth_place other_names birth_date article_title name occupation
sydney , new south wales 08 november 1819 3 calne , wiltshire isaac nicholls 29 july 1770 isaac nichols
 isaac nichols postmaster
isaac nichols

isaac nichols -lrb- 1770 -- 1819 -rrb- was a convict on the third fleet who became a successful businessman and was appointed the first postmaster of new south wales in 1809 .
the mayhem that could occur when supply ships arrived , which was said to include unscrupulous people taking other people 's mail and selling it back to them , made a more secure and orderly system a necessity .
isaac used his house in lower george st , the rocks , as the post office , going to newly arrived ships to pick up the mail and then posting a list of recipients outside his house .
isaac is credited with starting the first central post office .
he was transported for seven years in 1790 for stealing .
in new south wales he won favour with governor hunter and his aide-de-camp george johnston , and was appointed chief overseer of convict gangs labouring in the sydney area .
in 1797 after his sentence expired , hunter granted him in the concord district , on which he established a farm , and was assigned two convicts to farm it in lieu of his salary as chief overseer .
the next year he purchased a spirit license and opened an inn in george st. in 1799 he was convicted of receiving stolen goods and sentenced to 14 years on norfolk island , in a trial that hunter believed was based on perjury and prejudice .
-lrb- nichols had refused to assign more convicts than was correct to john macarthur and other officers of the new south wales corps -rrb- .
hunter suspended the sentence and referred the matter to england .
eventually , in 1802 , governor king was instructed to grant him a free pardon .
in the meantime , nichols had added greatly to his landholdings and built a house and substantial buildings in lower george st. he established a shipyard , and in 1805 built a ship ` the governor hunter ' which he used for trade .
despite his earlier problems with the new south wales officers corp , he sided with them in the rum rebellion to depose governor bligh .
-lrb- he had been an assigned convict to george johnston , one of the leaders of the rebellion , and later married his stepdaughter -rrb- .
in march 1809 he was appointed superintendent of public works and assistant to the naval office , and then in april he was appointed postmaster .
when governor macquarie arrived he also approved of nichols , and appointed him principal superintendent of convicts .
in his last ten years nichols enjoyed the respect and friendship of most leading people in the colony .
his home was the scene of many social functions , including the bachelors ' ball and the annual dinners to celebrate the foundation of the colony .
he was a major supplier of meat to government stores and a generous subscriber to public causes .
on 11 september 1796 nichols had married mary warren , and after her death by drowning in october 1804 , he married rosanna abrahams , daughter of esther johnston on 18 february 1805 .
she bore him three sons , isaac david -lrb- 1804 -- 1867 -rrb- , ` gentleman ' , george robert -lrb- 1809 -- 1857 -rrb- , barrister and solicitor , and charles hamilton -lrb- 1811 -- 1869 -rrb- .
shortly before isaac nichols died he sent the two elder boys to england to be educated .
