Francis Kirk

[3] Kirk, with his wife Mary and their five-year-old son Francis, left England on 30 December 1850 on the transport Mermaid.

[4][5] The boat carried a number of other Pensioner Guards and their families, as well as 209 convicts, including John Acton Wroth.

Kirk had been appointed overseer at the Depot and was also in charge of the "flying parties" of convicts who were brought up to Toodyay for short periods to undertake major roadwork.

One of the tasks was the removal of poison plants growing within 20 metres (66 ft), being two chains, of either side of the roads that were used to move stock.

[citation needed] Kirk died on 22 November 1869,[2] and was buried in what had once been the Roman Catholic cemetery in Duke Street,[8] behind the Newcastle hospital.