Eighteen-year-old Samuel HOCKEY and his older brother James were convicted at the Bridgwater Assizes in Somerset which began on 1st August 1829 and were both sentenced to 14 years transportation. They were first lodged in Shepton Gaol, then in the county gaol at Ilchester before being tranferred to the Captivity Prison Hulk at Devonport.

Samuel HOCKEY had pleaded not guilty to the charge of stealing an ass worth twenty shillings belonging to Edward KENT on the 15 June 1829 at Shepton Mallet but at his trial on 22 Aug 1829 he was convicted. He was described as aged 18, 5ft 4in tall, slender, fair complexion, oval visage, light brown hair and grey eyes with scar on the back of left hand. He was a butcher (like his father), born and living in Shepton, single, able to read but not write. [Letters dated 23 Feb 1983 Somerset Record Office, 14 Feb 1986 PRO, London]

The brothers sailed from Plymouth, England on 6 Apr 1830 on board the Sir Charles Forbes which arrived in Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (known as Tasmania from 1856) on 26 Jul 1830. This was a vessel of 364 tons, built at Aberdeen, Scotland in 1824, Class A1, Master James LESLIE, Surgeon William PETRIE on the ship's 3rd voyage to the Colony.

Convict Record of Samuel HOCKEY
He stated a previous offence of stealing 1lb of suet for which he served one month six years ago. His conduct record from 13 Dec 1830 to 4 Aug 1842 included repeated insolence and disobedience of orders, disobedience, neglect and insolence, out after hours, misconduct, threatening language and having a piece of pork in his possession without being able to satisfactorily account for it. His punishments included 12 lashes on the breech, 25 lashes, 50 lashes, 10 days in a cell, 3 days solitary confinement, 3 months imprisonment with hard labor, a recommendation to leave the district of Campbelltown, one month hard labor, 12 months hard labor in chains.
Ticket of Leave was granted sometime before 29 Aug 1839, Certificate of Freedom W7 42/1844.

On 27 Jul 1838 Samuel HOCKEY sought and was granted permission to marry Ellen BAREFOOT. [No.1051, CON 52/1 p80] The marriage did not take place and Ellen married Edward CASSIDY on 5 Feb 1839 in the Catholic Chapel, Launceston.

Ellen BARFOOT CASSIDY 1823-1897

In Dec 1839 Samuel HOCKEY applied for permission to marry Ellen's sister, Bridget BAREFOOT and permission was granted so we presume that the marriage took place although no record of the marriage has been found.

Van Diemen's Land Census of the Year 1842
Parish of No 3
Name of Householder: Samuel HOCKEY
Name of Person in charge: Samuel HOCKEY
Place of Residence: Alexander Street, Bothwell
Proprietor: George LARKINS
Dwelling-house built of wood, completed.
How many Persons generally reside in this Establishment besides yourself? Three
How many persons are Free? Three
How many Persons were dwelling here on the night of the thirty-first day of December last? All
What other Person (if any) on that night was dwelling with you? None.

It was reported in the Portland Guardian of 30 Dec 1847 that the Will Watch arrived at Portland Bay from Launceston on 20 Dec 1847 with passengers Samuel HOCKEY, Wife and Child.
Also passengers Mr & Mrs S HOCKEY and Child arrived at Portland Bay and that HOCKEY Child of S, departed from Portland Bay [1847 Index 3, Portland Bay & Port Fairy Passenger List at GenSeek Genealogy by Jenny Fawcett]
Samuel HOCKEY, wife and child; and James HOCKEY, wife and 3 children; departed Launceston on the Schooner Will Watch on 20 Dec 1847 as reported in the Launceston Examiner of 22 Dec 1847. (So some fuzzy dates here)

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The Will Watch arrived at Portland Bay on 31 December 1847. The Will Watch was a whaling vessel which arrived at Sydney on 22 January 1848. No passengers were listed. [AONSW ref: Colonial Secretary: Vessels Arrived 1848, COD 59A]
James HOCKEY, older brother of Samuel, was settled at Kyneton by March 1849.
It is possible that the brothers and their families did sail on to Sydney and came overland to Victoria. This would fit with a family story about them passing through Yass, NSW and burying a child at the foot of Blue Mountain (between Blackwood and Greendale, Victoria).

Children of Samuel HOCKEY and Bridget BAREFOOT:
1. Isabella HOCKEY b abt 1840 Launceston m 1855 Geelong, William Walter GUY [Vic 3055]
Isabella GUY d 5 Oct 1904 aged 64 yrs at Staffordshire Reef, Victoria [Vic 14006]

William Walter GUY m 1855 Isabella HOCKEY

2. Ann HOCKEY b 17 Dec 1842 Black Forest, Launceston, Tasmania, chr 28 Dec 1842 St John's C of East Launceston, d/o of Samuel HOCKEY, Labourer and Bridget HOCKEY [No. 1055, 1223/1842]
Also christened on the same day was Eliza HOCKEY b 20 Aug 1842 d/o of James HOCKEY (Samuel's brother) and Ann (ms BARFOOT) HOCKEY (sister of Bridget) [No. 1056, 1204/1842]
Ann is thought to have died as an infant, certainly before 1847, and as no birth of Isabella has been found there was some speculation that they could be one and the same but that would make Isabella 13 years at the time of her marriage in 1855 when it was stated that she was 16 yrs - young but probably not that young.
According to a family story Samuel and Bridget buried a child at the foot of Blue Mountain.
Apparently by 1850 they had separated.

The Ballarat Times, Saturday 28 October 1854, List of Unclaimed Letters lying at the Ballarat Post Office for the month of September, corrected up to 25 Oct, includes the name of Samuel Hockey. So someone was trying to contact him on the goldfields shortly before the Eureka uprising on 4 Dec 1854.
According to the Geelong rate books Samuel HOCKEY had a brickyard in Gertrude Street in 1854-56 and was a storekeeper in Virginia Street in 1858-60.
In August 1854 Samuel was reunited in Geelong with his elderly parents and his widowed sister Charlotte and her four daughters who all immigrated to Australia on the Star of the East. Daniel and Ann HOCKEY, both aged 76 yrs, had not seen their son Samuel since he left Somerset 24 years earlier. Charlotte would have been ten years old when she last saw her brother.

Victorian Police Gazette Consolidated Index 1864-1868:
Samuel HOCKEY, property, stolen from, Sep 1865 p338
Samuel HOCKEY, property, stolen from, Aug 1867 p295
Samuel HOCKEY, rewards offered by, Oct 1867 p370

Sometime before his second marriage in 1871 Samuel HOCKEY had moved to Rokewood where he was a brickmaker. His only child Isabella GUY had been living in that area since at least February 1857 when her first child was born on the Mt Misery Diggings. In the years 1872 to his death in 1886 Samuel HOCKEY was Publican of the British Hotel at Rokewood, a fine old red brick building on the north west corner of the Cressy intersection. It was demolished for secondhand bricks within living memory, probably in the late 1980s.