Elizabeth Callaghan

Elizabeth Callaghan (1802-1852; also Eliza Thompson,[1] later Elizabeth Batman and Sarah Willoughby) was a convict born in Ireland in 1802 and shipped to the penal colony in New South Wales at the age of 17 for passing a counterfeit bank note for £1 with intent to defraud the Bank of England.

Beautiful, elegant, fiery and learned – her mother was confident that she would easily find her place in the world.

She was sentenced to 14 years (death commuted) and was transported to New South Wales, arriving on 18 December 1821.

[5] She committed another offence on 25 June when she was caught sneaking out of her master’s premises on the 24th and remained absent all night.

Their only son, John Charles Batman, died aged just 8 or 9 years old by drowning in the Yarra River on 11 January 1845.