Hi Elaine, Lesley, everyone I only sent Elaine a couple of police gazette refs to a Michael Minton getting into trouble around Braidwood/South Coast in the 1860s; a mention in Govt Gazette 1842 of intestate estate balance for a "Michael (? James) Minton"; and some newpspaer refs at the NLA [ http://preview.tinyurl.com/ac8c2o]. Gobolion/Gobawlion/Gobawlin was/(is?) a property a couple of miles north of Wellington on the RHS of the Macquarie. It's mentioned a few times in the diaries of missionaries who took over from the convict stockade in the 1830s. Hilary Carey & David Roberts created a website containing these diaries at [ http://www.newcastle.edu.au/group/amrhd/wvp/index.html]<http://www.newcastle.edu.au/group/amrhd/wvp/index.html> . <http://www.newcastle.edu.au/group/amrhd/wvp/index.html> There is no mention of a Minton in it, unfortunately most of the convicts are nameless, simply described as "ticket-of-leave men". Sturt & Hume stopover at Gobolion on the 7th of December 1828 en route to discover the socalled inland sea, but no mention of Minton, again many of the convicts who feature in the explorer's diary are anonymous. In the index of the "Letters of John Maxwell: Superintendent of Government Stock 1823-1831" (Smith & Lloyd, 1982), there are many convicts mentioned but not Minton. Maxwell was involved with cattle and convicts at Bathurst and Wellington Valley :) Regards Brent