Ralph was imprisoned for stealing 20 ewes and 20 lambs, tried and convicted on 14 August 1819 in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he was sentenced to life transportation to Australia.

Ralph Hush was immediately taken to work at a farm and muster at Wingecarribee, New South Wales, now on the site of Bowral.

On 25 April 1808 in Norham, Northumberland, Hush married 24-year-old Margaret Robinson; their union would last 52 years, until his death in 1860.

They had four children: In 1823, Margaret wrote to the Governor of New South Wales asking to join her husband in Australia as a free settler.

Below is a transcript of her letter sent in 1823: To His Excellency General Darling Governor in Chief of the Colony of New South Wales and its Dependencies.

For the rest of his life, Ralph Hush was a farmer on various properties around the general Mongarlowe area, on farms such as Eastfield, Marlowe, Charleyong and St. Omer.

[1] His son, Ralph Hush eventually bought several of these farms and owned many inns, in and around the towns of Braidwood and Berrima.