Convict in Australia

1. Convicts in Australia

2. Convicts and the Colonisation of Australia, 1788-1868 The white European's colonisation of Australia provides a very revealing chapter in Britain's empire building history. Uncharacteristically for a British punishment, penal transportation involved mass exile, coerced labour, invasion, dispossession and genocide. This combination of convict stain and colonisation was so inglorious that for decades the history was not written. Instead, Australia was characterised as born by the Gold Rush and a working man’s paradise ensued, as if by magic. More recently, the 'History Wars' exposed a huge unease within Australia about how to think of its penal past. A focus on negative aspects was denigrated as the "black armband" view of the nation’s history, inviting the retort of "white blindfold" for those accentuating the positive. Grey did not come into it. The reality is that this history is full of contradictions. What follows is a brief and contestable account of Australia in the era of Transportation. There were two major convict colonies: New South Wales (1788-1840) and Van Diemen’s Land (later Tasmania, 1803-1853). Eventually, Swan River (Western Australia) would become a third penal colony when the failing settlement requested an injection of convict labourers (1850-1868). The country of origin, colonial distribution and gender breakdown of convicts are given in the adjacent figure. The premier site in convict Australia was Sydney, NSW. The First Fleet sailed into Botany Bay on the 18th January 1788 but quickly assessed conditions as unsuitable and shifted north to Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) on 26th January, now marked as Australia Day/Invasion Day, depending upon perspective. A satellite colony was also established over 1,000 miles away at Norfolk Island, both for strategic imperial reasons and increasingly as a food basket in an attempt to overcome insipient famine in the early years at Sydney Cove.

4. Three-quarters of convicts were transported for non-violent property crimes, more than half exiled for their first offence, at least according to the Convict Indents. The proportion of first offenders changed over time with alterations in English law which increasingly punished recidivism. Convicts arrived in the colonies having experienced a multiplicity of trades consistent with the diversity of labour markets in the United Kingdom. Between them they had been employed at thousands of different jobs. Several predominated: labourers, farm labourers and farm servants, ploughmen, grooms, shoemakers and tailors, butchers, cooks and housemaids, to name a few (Meredith and Oxley, 2015). There were over 1000 shepherds, immediately useful to a sheep run. In the colonies, all convicts had to work. Convicts appear in the 1828 NSW Census in very familiar roles, as labourers, servants, farm servants, ploughmen, shoemakers, shepherds, stockmen, constables and wives. Note that even under sentence convicts edged towards greater independence and control over their own labour, including who they worked for doing what, as they secured Tickets-of-Leave, Conditional (sometimes Absolute) Pardons, and at the conclusion of their sentences Certificates of Freedom. In the same census, Ticket holders and Emancipists - who could pick their employment - were engaged in the same mix of jobs as the convicts, suggesting a fairly well-functioning convict labour market: had they been inappropriately allocated, you would expect them to shift when they could.

5. Penal transportation was employed as a labour mobilisation device across the Western Empires from 1415 to the dismantling of the French Bagne in Guiana in 1953. It is the British, however, who remain the colonial power most associated with the practice, and the role that penal labour played in the colonisation of Australia is particularly well known (Anderson and Maxwell-Stewart, 2014). Between 1787 and 1868, a total of 164,000 convicts were landed in New South Wales, Van Diemen’s Land and Western Australia — 43% of the 380,000 estimated to have been transported within the British Empire in the period 1615-1939 1787-1822 In many ways convicts in early colonial Australia were surprisingly free. Contrary to British law, convicts could hold property, use the courts, and generally function as citizens (Kercher, 1995). Colonial custom quickly placed limits on the rights that the Crown had in convict labour. After government hours the prisoners' time was restored to them and they were free to work for wages until the official start of the next day and did not commence again until sunrise on the Monday morning (Dyster, 1988). Convicts were encouraged to work after government hours in the private sector to pay for their lodgings. Before the completion of Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney in 1819 there was little government accommodation for prisoners, most of whom rented rooms in the private sector. Following the discovery of the Bass Strait, a second British colony was founded in Van Diemen’s Land in 1803.

6. Numbers of British Convicts Transported Overseas 1660-1870

7. Most assigned convicts worked without restraint and were for all intents and purposes indistinguishable from other members of the colonial lower orders. Those that escaped further encounters with the courts could expect to be rewarded after a number of years’ service with a ticket-of-leave. This indulgence operated as a form of probation, enabling the recipient to work for wages. It was also common practice to reward good service with early release in the form of a conditional pardon. Analysis of data for convicts in Van Diemen’s Land reveals that the rate at which convicts were prosecuted varied according to local labour market conditions. When the cost of feeding and clothing a convict rose, the number of prisoners sentenced to hard labour on the public works also increased. This had the effect of shifting the cost of maintenance onto the government. Convicts with skills that were in colonial demand were also less likely to be punished than unskilled shipmates. While the use of convict labour in Australia was exploitative, it also exhibited features more commonly associated with the rise of the penitentiary. The rate of flogging for example declined sharply in the 1820s, predating the reductions in the use of physical punishment in the army and British factories by a decade.

8. Between 1788 and 1868, about 162,000 convicts were transported from Britain and Ireland to various penal colonies in Australia. The British Government began transporting convicts overseas to American colonies in the early 18th century. When transportation ended with the start of the American Revolution, an alternative site was needed to relieve further overcrowding of British prisons and hulks. Earlier in 1770, James Cook charted and claimed possession of the east coast of Australia for Britain. Seeking to pre-empt the French colonial empire from expanding into the region, Britain chose Australia as the site of a penal colony, and in 1787, the First Fleet of eleven convict ships set sail for Botany Bay, arriving on 20 January 1788 to found Sydney, New South Wales, the first European settlement on the continent. Other penal colonies were later established in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1803 and Queensland in 1824. Western Australia – established as Swan River Colony in 1829 – initially was intended solely for free settlers, but commenced receiving convicts in 1850.

9. South Australia and Victoria, established in 1836 and 1850 respectively, officially remained free colonies. However, a population that included thousands of convicts already resided in the area that became known as Victoria. Penal transportation to Australia peaked in the 1830s and dropped off significantly in the following decade, as protests against the convict system intensified throughout the colonies. In 1868, almost two decades after transportation to the eastern colonies had ceased, the last convict ship arrived in Western Australia. The majority of convicts were transported for petty crimes. More serious crimes, such as rape and murder, became transportable offences in the 1830s, but since they were also punishable by death, comparatively few convicts were transported for such crimes. Approximately 1 in 7 convicts were women, while political prisoners, another minority group, comprise many of the best-known convicts. Once emancipated, most ex-convicts stayed in Australia and joined the free settlers, with some rising to prominent positions in Australian society. Almost 20% of modern Australians, in addition to 2 million Britons, have some convict ancestry. The convict era has inspired famous novels, films, and other cultural works, and the extent to which it has shaped Australia's national character has been studied by many writers and historians.

10. According to Robert Hughes in The Fatal Shore, the population of England and Wales, which had remained steady at 6 million from 1700 to 1740, began rising considerably after 1740. By the time of the American Revolution, London was overcrowded, filled with the unemployed, and flooded with cheap gin.[8] Poverty, social injustice, child labour, harsh and dirty living conditions and long working hours were prevalent in 19th-century Britain. Dickens's novels perhaps best illustrate this; even some government officials were horrified by what they saw. Only in 1833 and 1844 were the first general laws against child labour (the Factory Acts) passed in the United Kingdom. Crime had become a major problem and, in 1784, a French observer noted that "from sunset to dawn the environs of London became the patrimony of brigands for twenty miles around

11. About 60,000 convicts were transported to the British colonies in North America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, under the terms of the Transportation Act 1717. Transportation to the Americas ceased following Britain's defeat in the American Revolutionary War. The number of convicts transported to North America is not verified although it has been estimated to be 50,000 by John Dunmore Lang and 120,000 by Thomas Keneally. The British American colony of Maryland received a larger felon quota than any other province.

12. Norfolk Island military barracks

13. Penitentiary at the Port Arthur convict settlement Tasmania

14. In 1803, a British expedition was sent from Sydney to Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) to establish a new penal colony there. The small party, led by Lt. John Bowen, established a settlement at Risdon Cove, on the eastern side of the Derwent River. Originally sent to Port Philip, but abandoned within weeks, another expedition led by Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins arrived soon after. Collins considered the Risdon Cove site inadequate, and in 1804 he established an alternative settlement on the western side of the river at Sullivan's Cove, Tasmania. This later became known as Hobart, and the original settlement at Risdon Cove was deserted. Collins became the first Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land. When the convict station on Norfolk Island was abandoned in 1807–1808, the remaining convicts and free settlers were transported to Hobart and allocated land for resettlement. However, as the existing small population was already experiencing difficulties producing enough food, the sudden doubling of the population was almost catastrophic. Macquarie Harbour Penal Station, depicted by convict artist William Buelow Gould, 1833

15. William Buckley's transportation and escape to live with the Wathaurong in 1803, as depicted by 19th-century Aboriginal artist Tommy McRae.

16. In 1803, two ships arrived in Port Phillip, which Lt. John Murray in the Lady Nelson had discovered and named the previous year. The Calcutta under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Collins transported 300 convicts, accompanied by the supply ship Ocean. Collins had previously been Judge Advocate with the First Fleet in 1788. He chose Sullivan Bay near the present-day Sorrento, Victoria for the first settlement - some 90 km south of present-day Melbourne. About two months later the settlement was abandoned due to poor soil and water shortages and Collins moved the convicts to Hobart. Several convicts had escaped into the bush and were left behind to unknown fates with the local aboriginal people. One such convict, the subsequently celebrated William Buckley, lived in the western side of Port Phillip for the next 32 years before approaching the new settlers and assisting as an interpreter for the indigenous peoples. Western Port, (Boonwurrung: Warn Marin) commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia

17. Although a convict-supported settlement was established in Western Australia from 1826 to 1831, direct transportation of convicts did not begin until 1850. It continued until 1868. During that period, 9,668 convicts were transported on 43 convict ships. The first convicts to arrive were transported to New South Wales, and sent by that colony to King George Sound (Albany) in 1826 to help establish a settlement there. At that time the western third of Australia was unclaimed land known as New Holland. Fears that France would lay claim to the land prompted the Governor of New South Wales, Ralph Darling, to send Major Edmund Lockyer, with troops and 23 convicts, to establish a settlement at King George Sound. Lockyer's party arrived on Christmas Day, 1826. A convict presence was maintained at the settlement for over four years. On 7 March 1831 control of the settlement was transferred to the Swan River Colony, and the troops and convicts were withdrawn. In April 1848, Charles Fitzgerald, Governor of Western Australia, petitioned Britain to send convicts to his state because of labor shortages. Britain rejected sending fixed-term convicts, but offered to send first offenders in the final years of their terms.

18. Most convicts in Western Australia spent very little time in prison. Those who were stationed at Fremantle were housed in the Convict Establishment, the colony's convict prison, and misbehaviour was punished by stints there. The majority, however, were stationed in other parts of the colony. Although there was no convict assignment in Western Australia, there was a great demand for public infrastructure throughout the colony, so that many convicts were stationed in remote areas. Initially, most offenders were set to work creating infrastructure for the convict system, including the construction of the Convict Establishment itself. In 1852 a Convict Depot was built at Albany, but closed 3 years later. When shipping increased the Depot was re-opened. Most of the convicts had their Ticket-of-Leave and were hired to work by the free settlers. Convicts also crewed the pilot boat, rebuilt York Street and Stirling Terrace; and the track from Albany to Perth was made into a good road. An Albany newspaper noted their commendable behaviour and wrote, "There were instances in which our free settlers might take an example". Western Australia's convict era came to an end with the cessation of penal transportation by Britain. In May 1865, the colony was advised of the change in British policy, and told that Britain would send one convict ship in each of the years 1865, 1866, and 1867, after which transportation would cease. In accordance with this, the last convict ship to Western Australia, Hougoumont, left Britain in 1867 and arrived in Western Australia on 10 January 1868.

19. Convict women in Australia were British prisoners whom the government increasingly sent out during the era of transportation (1787-1868) in order to develop the penal outpost of New South Wales (now a state of Australia) into a viable colony. The women would be employed in ‘factories’ (equivalent of the The women would be employed in ‘factories’ (equivalent of the English workhouse) but often had to find their own accommodation, English workhouse) but often had to find their own accommodation, and would be under great pressure to pay for it with sexual and would be under great pressure to pay for it with sexual services. In this way, all the women convicts tended to be regarded services. In this way, all the women convicts tended to be regarded as prostitutes. But it is a popular misconception that they had as prostitutes. But it is a popular misconception that they had originally been convicted of prostitution, as this was not a originally been convicted of prostitution, as this was not a transportable offence transportable offence. Despite the belief that convict women during . Despite the belief that convict women during the transportation period were all prostitutes, no women were the transportation period were all prostitutes, no women were transported for that offence. The majority of women sent to transported for that offence. The majority of women sent to Australia were convicted for what would now be considered minor Australia were convicted for what would now be considered minor offences (such as petty theft), most did not receive sentences of offences (such as petty theft), most did not receive sentences of more than seven years. Many women were driven to prostitution more than seven years. Many women were driven to prostitution upon their arrival in Australia as means of survival because they upon their arrival in Australia as means of survival because they were often required to house themselves or buy clothing and were often required to house themselves or buy clothing and bedding on their own. bedding on their own.

20. Convict population of New South Wales during the period Year 1788 1790 1800 1805 1819 1828 1836 1841 Males 529 297 1,230 1,561 8,920 16,442 25,254 23,844 Females 188 70 328 1,558 516 2,077 1,066 9,986 1,544 17,986 2,577 27,831 3,133 26,977 Total 717 367

21. The Cascades Female Factory, a former Australian workhouse for female convicts in the penal colony of Van Diemen's Land, is located in Hobart, Tasmania. Operational between 1828 and 1856, the factory is now one of the 11 sites that collectively compose the Australian Convict Sites, listed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO. Some rooms in the Macquarie Street Gaol served as a temporary Hobart "Female Factory" in the mid-1820s. The Cascades Female Factory was purpose- built in 1828 and operated as a convict facility until 1856.