Isaac Nichols

Isaac Nichols (29 July 1770 – 18 November 1819) was an English-born Australian farmer, shipowner and public servant who was a convict transported to New South Wales on the Third Fleet, on the Admiral Barrington. He was transported for seven years in 1790 for stealing. He is most remembered as the first postmaster of the postal service now known as Australia Post.

In New South Wales Isaac was born in Calne, Wiltshire, to Jonathan Nichols and his wife Sarah. In New South Wales he won favour with Governor Hunter and his aide-de-camp George Johnston, and was appointed chief overseer of convict gangs labouring in the Sydney area. In 1797 after his sentence expired, Hunter granted him in the Concord district, on which he established a farm, and was assigned two convicts to farm it in lieu of his salary as chief overseer. The next year he purchased a spirit licence and opened an inn in George St.

In 1799 he was convicted of receiving stolen goods and sentenced to 14 years on Norfolk Island, in a trial that Governor Hunter believed was based on perjury and prejudice. (Nichols had refused to assign more convicts than was correct to John Macarthur and other officers of the New South Wales Corps). Hunter suspended the sentence and referred the matter to England. Eventually, in 1802, Governor King was instructed to grant him a free pardon. In the meantime, Nichols had added greatly to his landholdings and built a house and substantial buildings in lower George St. He established a shipyard, and in 1805 built a ship 'the Governor Hunter' which he used for trade.

When Governor Macquarie arrived in 1810 he also approved of Nichols, and appointed him principal superintendent of convicts. In his last ten years Nichols enjoyed the respect and friendship of most leading people in the colony. His home was the scene of many social functions, including the Bachelors' Ball and the annual dinners to celebrate the foundation of the colony. He was a major supplier of meat to government stores and a generous subscriber to public causes. "gentleman", George Robert (1809–1857), barrister and solicitor and politician in New South Wales, and Charles Hamilton (1811–1869). Shortly before Isaac Nichols died in 1819 he sent the two elder boys to England to be educated. George became a solicitor and barrister and politician in New South Wales in the 1840s and 50s. He was bankrupted in the financial crisis of 1842 but later returned to his legal practice and later still became a member of Parliament. From 1848, Charles was the proprietor of Bell's Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer. After Charles' death the Nichols family ceased to be publicly active.