Elizabeth Gregory was born around 1780 the daughter of Sarah Gregory (b.c1744) who was sentenced to transportation for the theft of pigs in St Michaels parish near St Albans at the March 1789 Hertford Assizes. Her father was probably Thomas Gregory (b.c1741, tried Old Bailey, qv). She sailed with her mother on the Lady Julian transport to Sydney, arriving 3 June 1790, whence they were sent to Norfolk Island on the Surprize eight weeks later.
In July 1791, aged about 10, Elizabeth was sexually assaulted by the First Fleet marine Henry Wright, aged 33. Lieutenant Ralph Clark wrote that he had attempted to deflour her and had been ordered a flogging and compelled to run the gauntlet of all the men and women in the settlement as a kind of ritual humiliation (in which he was probably beaten by the people as he ran). He had been married with a child when transported to the island for a similar offence at Sydney in 1789. From at least 1798 Elizabeth Gregory was living with the Third Fleet convict Edward Fisher (Matilda 1791, tried Stafford). The couple were married on the island on 26 July 1802; their children included: Thomas (1799), Susannah (1800), Edward (1801), Sarah (1802) and John (1804). In December 1807 the family were among the settlers transferred to Van Diemens Land on HMS Porpoise. They left behind a 33 acre farm and were granted land at Sandy Bay, Hobart, where they are commemorated by modern Fishers Avenue, Elizabeth bore three more children: Elizabeth (c1810), William (c1813) and Joseph (1817). In 1809 the couple were mustered holding 66 acres (3 sown in wheat); they owned 14 sheep, 2 goats and 2 pigs. By 1819 they were more prosperous, with 85 acres (12 sown in wheat, barley, beans, potatoes), 34 cattle and 250 sheep. Edward Fisher died on 23 August 1838 and was buried in St Davids Cemetery, Hobart on the 29th, age given as 85. Elizabeth aged given as 65 (actually nearer 61), and was buried near her husband. Headstones were erected by their children at the graves.
Source: Source: "The Second Fleet Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790" by Michael Flynn Mitchell Library Ref 994.02/51A