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As
crime increased and many judges gave life imprisonment rather
than death penalty, prisons became overcrowded. When
the jails were filled the convicts were put in old ships called
hulks. Conditions on these hulks were terrible. The threat of
disease, the many escapes and the overcrowding forced the government
to find a place to send the convicts. This was made worse when,
in 1776, they lost their American
colonies and America refused to take any more convicts.
So, Australia was chosen and the British
started shipping their convicts to Australia. Stealing a buckle
or a loaf of bread was enough to be shipped off to Australia.
About 160,000 prisoners were shipped to Australia until 1868.
The
transportation to Australia was not a pleasure at all. The long
sea voyage from England to Australia took eight months. In the
First Fleet led by Arthur Philip, there were about 1500 people,
consisting of male and female convicts, soldiers, sailors and
their families. The ships were also loaded with food, livestock,
tools and building supplies. There was so little room in the
hold that each convict had a bunk only 250 centimeters long,
180 centimeters wide and 90 centimeters high. During the day
the convicts were allowed to come up on deck for a short while.
Only 30 convicts died during the journey.
Later
trips were much worse than those of the First Fleet were. The
convicts were often chained and could hardly move. They were
up to their waists in water. Food was poor and there was no
medicine. Of 900 who sailed in one fleet, 370 died on the trip
and 450 were so sick when they landed that very few survived.
Arthur
Philip was chosen the governor of the new colony. He had complete
authority but he faced many problems. The convicts sent to Australia
were of three main types :
- The young, single city-dwellers
who made their living by theft
- The prisoners, mainly Irish
and Scottish, who had rebelled against the British king
- The violent criminals who were
convicted for murder, robbery, rape and kidnapping.
When
the convicts first arrived in Sydney they were assigned to one
of three situations :
For
the first two years, the threat of starvation hung over the
young penal colony, as neither convicts nor marines had much
knowledge of farming. The settlement had to rely on supply ships
from England. Unskilled convicts were put to work clearing land
and building roads, while the skilled ones worked on public
buildings. The convicts were housed in barracks, where they
received scant food and clothing. Meanwhile the climate was
much hotter and drier than England.
Those
who slacked in their work or caught trying to escape got severe
punishment such as flogging or, at worst, hanging.
The first person to be executed in Australia was a young boy
of 17. Young John Barrett was charged with stealing food, and
was hung on the 6th of March 1788.
Transportation
to other penal settlements such as Norfolk Island was a severe
punishment. Situated off the east coast of New South Wales,
the island settled shortly after 1788 as a secondary penal settlement.
Convicts who had committed a second offence after arriving in
the colony were sent here, as were the less obedient convicts.
It quickly developed a notorious reputation as a brutal island
prison and a place of banishment for the worst convicts.
Macquarie
Harbour, on the remote west coast of Tasmania, was founded as
a penal settlement in 1822, while Port Arthur on the south-east
coast was established in 1930. It became the largest penal settlement
in the colony, incarcerating a total of 30,000 convicts over
its 47-year history. It was thought to be impossible to escape
from, as the only access was over an isthmus, guarded constantly
by soldiers with dogs.
Although
most convicts were sent to Australia for seven years, fourteen
years, or ‘life’ (twenty-four years), many were given pardons
for good conduct. These were called ticket-of-leave convicts,
and, although they were not allowed to leave Australia, they
were free to run their own farms and shops.
Convicts
who served out their full sentences were called expires. By
1810 all free convicts were called emancipists.
Women
convicts usually became servants of the free settlers. Because
only one in eight convicts was a woman, it was lucky if a man
could find a wife.
IMMIGRANTS/THE FREE
SETTLERS
Not
too many people wanted to come to Australia in the early days
because life was very hard. The sort of people who were needed
(farmers, carpenters, builders, etc) didn't want to leave the
comforts of home for the hardships of this new land.
During
the early 1800's as poverty and unemployment increased in Britain
the British government tried to encourage people to come to
Australia by agreeing to pay for their passage (this was called
"assisted passage"). These settlers were called "Free
Settlers". Life on board these ships was squalid. Disease
in these cramped surroundings was always a problem.
Some
of these new settlers laid claim to vast tracts of land on which
they started grazing cattle and sheep. They came to be called
the "Squatters".
Over time some of these families became very wealthy and
respectable. Their land holdings called "stations"
in some cases are bigger than some countries.
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The Convict