Thank you Lesley. An interesting document regarding an early segment of life in Port Jackson. Regards, Jill -----Original Message----- From: aus-pt-jackson-convicts-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aus-pt-jackson- I found this in The Sydney Morning Herald of December 24 1955. Most of us would have been quite young when this was written and some of you have not have been born! When Sydney was 11 months old .. As we celebrate this, our one hundred and sixty seventh Christmas and possibly the most prosperous in all our history, we might remember that the first Christmas of our pioneering forefathers was somewhat different. By December 25, 1788, Sydney town, Australia's first settlement was 11 months old. Up till then progress had been steady, if not rapid. The bush around Sydney Cove had been cleared, and the thoroughfare that is now George Street North was a fairly well-defined track.