William Skillan

Not much is known of William Skillan except for a single sentence appearing in one newspaper. On Page 3 of The Fremantle Herald, dated Saturday 10 December 1881, the statement appears;

“An old fisherman named W. Skillan was drowned last week at Mandurah”.

There does not appear to be any further articles published detailing the tragedy.

It is likely that William Skillan was around 60 years of age at the time of his death, and originated from Scotland having lived in Renfrewshire. He arrived in Western Australian together with 222 other convicts onboard the Sultana on the 19 August 1859, after being sentenced to 15 years from the Glasgow Court of Justiciary. He was found guilty of “Theft by Housebreaking and Previous Conviction” and convicted on 1 May 1857. His convict records mention that he was married with 3 children.

His Estate was Intestate and paid into the Treasury in 1889 to the value of 10 11s. 8d.