Isaac Nichols

Who was Isaac Nichols?

Isaac Nichols was a convict on the Third Fleet who became a successful businessman and was appointed the first Postmaster of New South Wales in 1809. The mayhem that could occur when supply ships arrived, which was said to include unscrupulous people taking other people's mail and selling it back to them, made a more secure and orderly system a necessity. Isaac used his house in lower George St, the Rocks, as the post office, going to newly arrived ships to pick up the mail and then posting a list of recipients outside his house. Isaac is credited with starting the first central post office.

He was transported for seven years in 1790 for stealing. 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 50 acres 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 license 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 Hunter believed was based on perjury and prejudice.. 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.