In 1846 Barratt was employed as a switch turner for London, Brighton and South Coast Railway at Deptford.
[3] He was imprisoned in Newgate Prison in London, where he remained until 30 April 1852 where he departed from Plymouth on the ship William Jardine.
[1][2] He arrived in the Colony of Western Australia on 1 August 1852 and brought with him gardening skills, which he put to use in the employ of colonists John Gregory and, after his pardon in 1853, George Shenton Sr.[3] His wife and three children followed him out to Western Australia, arriving on 23 March 1854 on board the ship Victory.
In 1860, he established the Wellington Nursery at his Murray Street residence, which bordered the wetlands near Lake Kingsford, north of Perth.
These wetland fringes were utilised for market gardens and were ideal for growing horticultural crops and nursery stock.