Elinor McDonald : Short Biography

Elinor (Eleanor) McDonald was sentenced to seven years transportation to New South Wales by a Dublin court in 1790 for stealing a watch, chain and locket worth six guineas. She was on the Third Fleet’s Queen, the first convict ship to depart from an Irish port (Cork) for New South Wales. Arriving in Sydney in 1791, Elinor partnered with fellow convict Jonathan Griffiths and raised a large family that became integral to the shipbuilding and coastal trading industry in the Hawkesbury, Launceston and Port Fairy. With hard work and resilience under adverse conditions, they used the life-changing opportunities in the colony to establish new family and community ties in Australia, the first of many generations.

This Chronicle has been adapted by kind permission of the Aisling Society. The content has been inspired by the Aisling 20/20 Vision project, which forms part of a programme marking the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of the Consulate General of Ireland to New South Wales. 

The Aisling Society is an Irish Australian cultural society whose main interests are the study of the history, life, and culture of Ireland, and the effect of Irish heritage on Australian life.