John Marzagora
Arriving as a free settler on the Fanny in 1816, John Margazora first tried his hand as a looking glass maker before being employed as a constable at the County Gaol but by the 1830s, Marzagora had turned his hand to his new occupation - an 1836 advertisement states ‘Birds of all kinds and other Curiosities on sale at John Marzagora’s. No.39 Cumberland Street’
We receive an insight into the home life of Marzagora through correspondence in the Colonial Secretary’s in letters. In 1823, he petitions for his wife to be admitted to the Female Factory because of her ‘most nefarious, adulterous, treacherous, diabolical and disgraceful conduct’. From his letters it appears that, following an affair with a prisoner employed in their household, his wife Mary left him. Marzagora describes that he frequently passed the house in which she lived and found it ‘frequented by infamous characters’.
John Marzagora (aka Massagorah) died in October 1838, the result of accident. The newspaper report of his inquest states he had been out shooting on the Parramatta Road where he hailed a coach and has scarcely seated himself when his gun discharged, shooting him through the head. Ironically Marzagora was saying that he wished he had discharged his gun before he got on the coach just before the gun fired.
Following his death, his stock was auctioned off. The stock was described as ‘a unique collection of live and stuffed birds, skins, scarce and valuable shells, natural curiosities, paddles, clubs, spears' and more.
33df.jpg?itok=PjiXfJIR "John Mazagora [Marzagora] Date of death 24 October 1837, Granted on 5 February 1838. NRS-13660-1-[14/3197]-Series 1_885 (1 of 3)")
1368.jpg?itok=F1a8mWyd "John Mazagora [Marzagora] Date of death 24 October 1837, Granted on 5 February 1838. NRS-13660-1-[14/3197]-Series 1_885 (2 of 3)")
28dc.jpg?itok=ZOW2ZCd6 "John Mazagora [Marzagora] Date of death 24 October 1837, Granted on 5 February 1838. NRS-13660-1-[14/3197]-Series 1_885 (3 of 3)")
6675.jpg?itok=bZklf8ot "Probate - John Marzagora Date of death [not known], Granted on 7 May 1838. NRS-13660-1-[14/3197]-Series 1_907 (1 of 2)")
a01b.jpg?itok=LNV-AOT0 "Probate - John Marzagora Date of death [not known], Granted on 7 May 1838. NRS-13660-1-[14/3197]-Series 1_907 (2 of 2)")