Ann Nicholls was born around 1827. Her parents and place of birth are unknown.

There is no trace of her marriage to Henry Goodman, but she was expecting a baby and on the ship Aboukir with Henry Goodman heading for Australia in 1847.

They left from Plymouth, England.

The ship arrived in Adelaide on the 4th of September 1847 after a voyage of 95 days. They moved to Worthing Mine, where on the 18th of October their son Henry (Harry) was born. Worthing Mine was a copper mine located at Hallett Cove, now a suburb of Adelaide.

By 1851 the family had moved, and Ann's husband was employed as a blacksmith at Reedy Creek Mines at Tungkillo, South Australia. There on the 6th of January 1850 their second child, Sophia, was born.

On the 10th of March 1851 Henry bought two blocks of land 25 kilometers south of Adelaide with a business partner called James Tank. On the 1st of September 1851 he made his will, and left to go gold mining in Victoria.

While Henry was away, their third child, Ellen, was born in Adelaide on the 1st of May 1852. Ann registered the birth. Her address is given as Adelaide. Meanwhile the Post Office had advertised in the paper that there was uncollected mail waiting for Henry Goodman.

Ann then received the news that her husband had died (probably in Victoria). The South Australian Government Gazette of September 23, 1852, reports:

In the matter of the administration of Henry Goodman, late of the Reedy Creek Mines, in the Province of South Australia, blacksmith, deceased, to the next of kin of the said Henry Goodman, and to all Christian people, greetings:-

You, and each of you, are hereby cited and warned to be and appear in the Supreme Court of the Province of South Australia on or before the eighth day of October next at eleven o'clock in the fore noon, and that you and each of you then and there shew cause to the Honorable Court, why administration of the goods and chattels, rights, credits, and effects within the Province of South Australia, of the same Henry Goodman, deceased, should not be granted to Ann Goodman, of Adelaide, in the said Province, widow of the deceased, or forever renounce the administration of the goods and chattels, rights, credits and effects of the said Henry Goodman, deceased, who died intestate, as is represented to us.

Apart from the above, there seems to be no record of Henry's death, or of a burial plot. He was 30 years old.

Despite Henry having "died intestate", here is a copy of Henry's will:

I Henry Goodman Blacksmith at the Reedy Creek Mine Tungkillo do hereby declare this to be my last Will and Testament and that I bequeath unto Ann Goodman my wife all my Earthly goods and chattels together with two parcels of land part of Section No. 593 in the provincial Survey B to be used by her in whatsoever manner the said Ann Goodman may think fit for the use and Education of my children providing the said Ann Goodman remains unmarried, but should the aforesaid Ann Goodman be remarried I declare the monies arising from the aforesaid parcels of land to be solely invested for the use of my children And which I Henry Goodman do hereby in the presence of two Witnesses affix my hand and Seal this 1st day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand and eight hundred and fifty-one.

A notice in the 31 August 1855 Victoria Police Gazette, says that Ann Goodman nee Nickells of Adelaide, aged 28, made application to receive relief from the State of Victoria. A fund was available to widows with children whose husbands had disappeared on the Victoria goldfields. The notice states that Henry had been missing for two years.

There is a clash of details. If her 5 year old son Harry was living in Victoria on the station of Benjamin Ebbon by 1853, then presumably his mother Ann had gone there too.

On Benjamin Ebbon's station in Victoria, Ann's children learned to ride horses. Harry's talent for horse riding was noted by Mr Harry Mount, a horse trainer, and he was transferred from Ebbon's cattle station into Mount's tuition. (Benjamin Ebbon seems to be Benjamin Hepburn or Hebbon whose station was at Forest Hill, near Creswick, just north of Ballarat).

In 1869, Ann's daughters Sophia and Ellen were married in Otago, New Zealand: Sophia Goodman to Henry Jeffree Vivian, and Ellen Goodman to Edward Pritchard. In 1871, Ann's son Harry Goodman married Annie Lowe in Dunedin.

Ann's daughter Sophia's death certificate in 1900 records her mother as having been Ann Goodman formerly Douglas.