Thomas Barrett

Thomas Barrett ( – 27 February 1788) was a convict transported on the First Fleet to the colony of New South Wales. He created Australia's first colonial art work, the Charlotte Medal, which depicts the arrival of Charlotte at Botany Bay. He was also the first person to be executed in the new colony.

Life England Barrett was born around 1758 in London.

He was accused and tried on 3 July 1782 in the Old Bailey court for the theft in May of silverware from a house, but acquitted.

Transportation to Australia On 11 September 1782 Barrett faced trial again, for the theft in July of several items from a house. He was found guilty, and sentenced to death, but that sentence was commuted to transportation. He spent the next 18 months in a prison ship moored on the River Thames, (Before 1775, Britain had transported convicts to its colonies in North America, but with the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, transportation to the American colonies was suspended.) Instead transportees were held in prison ships, pending the end of the war.

A few days into the voyage a group of convicts, including Barrett, mutinied and took control of the ship. Bad weather forced them to return to England, where they abandoned the ship and fled, before being recaptured. Barrett was again sentenced to death, and again he was reprieved; during the mutiny he had intervened to save the life of Mercurys steward, and to prevent the captain's ear being cut off, and so his death sentence was commuted to transportation. Once again he was sent to a prison ship, this time in Plymouth, until 1787 (After the revolution, the newly independent America refused to accept convicts from Britain.) with forged coins, which he had made from belt buckles, buttons and spoons. According to the ship's surgeon John White, the workmanship was of high quality and the forgery was only detected because of the poor quality of the metal.

Charlotte arrived at Botany Bay on 20 January 1788, but the convicts remained onboard until the fleet sailed to Port Jackson six days later. It was during this time that Barrett created the Charlotte Medal as a memento of their arrival, at the request of White, from a silver kidney dish and using tools provided by White. The medal is considered to be the first work of Australian colonial art. He also created a smaller and less elaborate copper version of the medal for White's servant, William Broughton. (The roles of Barrett, White and Broughton in the creation of the medals are generally accepted as mostly likely to be the case, but some of the sources allow for a degree of uncertainty.) The area became known as Hangman's Hill;