At 11:01 PM 10/03/2009, you wrote: >The Lieutenant Governor of the time deemed the new service a necessity >because of frequent stealing of mail from incoming ships and appointed >former convict Isaac Nichols to take charge of all mail arriving in the >colony of New South Wales. Isaac Nicols married the first Jewish free settler in Australia - Rosanna Abrahams, the daughter of Esther Abrahams, father unknown. Rosannah was born in Newgate Prison and arrived here on the First Fleet age 10 months, with her 17 year old mother. Isaac & Rosannah's son George Robert Nicols, born 1809, the year of his father's post office appointment, became the first Australian born solicitor, parliamentarian, and NSW auditor-general. >Mail theft prompted the birth of Australia's postal service - but, >ironically, the first man appointed as postmaster was a convicted thief. And the son of a thief married to the illegitimate daughter of a teenage thief became auditor of the colony's finances. Gary _________________________________ Gary Luke ~ gary@feraltek.com.au Sydney, Australia