Convictism in Australia

Encyclopedia : C : CO : CON : Convictism in Australia

Convictism in Australia describes the convicts who were transported to the various Australian colonies in the late eighteenth and nineteenth century. One of the primary reasons for the British settlement of Australia was the establishment of a penal colony to alleviate pressure on their overburdened correctional facilities. The last convicts to be transported to Australia arrived in Western Australia in 1868.

Contents

1 Reasons for transportation
2 New South Wales
3 Tasmania
4 Queensland
5 Western Australia
6 Victoria
7 Cessation of transportation
8 Legacy
9 Famous Convicts transported to Australia
10 References
11 See also

Reasons for transportation

Main article: Penal transportation

The industrial revolution saw an increase in petty crime in Europe due to the displacement of much of the population, leading to pressures on the government to find an alternative to confinement in overcrowded gaols. The situation in Britain was so dire in fact, that derelict ships known as hulks were used as makeshift floating prisons. Transportation was a common punishment handed out for both major and petty crimes in Britain from the 17th century until well into the 19th century. At the time, it was seen as a more humane alternative to execution, which would most likely have been the sentence handed down to many of those who were transported, if transportation hadn't been introduced. Around 50,000 convicts were transported to the British colonies in North America in the 17th and 18th centuries. When the American Revolutionary War brought an end to that means of disposal, the British Government was forced to look elsewhere. After Captain Cook's famous voyage to the south pacific in which he visited and claimed Australia in the name of the British Empire, he reported his findings to the government, and the British, for the first time, became aware of the existence of the continent of Australia.

New South Wales

Main article: History of New South Wales

Alternatives to the American colonies were investigated and the newly discovered and mapped East Coast of New Holland was proposed. The details provided by James Cook during his expedition to the South Pacific in 1770 made it the most suitable. The term 'Australia' was first used by Matthew Flinders about 1800, derived from the ancient mythological reference to 'Terra Australis', the Great South Land.

On 18 August 1786 the decision was made to send a colonisation party of convicts, military and civilian personnel to Botany Bay. There were 775 convicts on board six transport ships. They were accompanied by officials, members of the crew, marines, the families thereof and their own children who together totalled 645. In all eleven ships were sent in what became known as the First Fleet. Other than the convict transports, there were two naval escorts and three storeships. The fleet assembled in Portsmouth and set sail on 13 May 1787.

The fleet arrived at Botany Bay on 20 January 1788. It soon became clear that it would not be suitable for the establishment of a colony, and the group relocated to Port Jackson. There they established the first permanent European colony on the Australian continent, New South Wales, on 26 January. The area has since developed into Sydney. This date is still celebrated as Australia Day.

There was initially a high mortality rate amongst the members of the first fleet due mainly to shortages of food. The ships carried only enough food to provide for the settlers until they could establish agriculture in the region. Unfortunately, there were insufficient skilled farmers and domesticated livestock to do this, and the colony waited on the arrival of the Second Fleet. The second fleet was an unprecedented disaster that provided little in the way of help and upon its delivery of still more sick and dying convicts, actually worsened the situation in Port Jackson.

Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Bourke was the ninth Governor of the Colony of New South Wales between 1831 and 1837. Appalled by the excessive punishments doled out to convicts, Bourke passed 'The Magistrates Act', which limited the sentence a magistrate could pass to fifty lashes (previously there was no such limit). Bourke's administration was controversial and furious magistrates and employers petitioned the crown against this interference with their legal rights, fearing that a reduction in punishments would cease to provide enough deterrence to the convicts.

Bourke, however, was not dissuaded from his reforms and continued to create controversy within the colony by combating the inhumane treatment handed out to convicts, including limiting the number of convicts each employer was allowed to seventy, as well as granting rights to freed convicts, such as allowing the acquisition of property and service on juries. It has been argued that the abolishment of convict transportation to New South Wales in 1840 can be attributable to the actions of Bourke.

If a convict was well behaved, the convict could be given a Ticket of Leave granting some freedom. At the end of the convict's sentence the convict was issued with a Certificate of Freedom. Convicts that misbehaved, however, were often sent to a place of secondary punishment like Port Arthur, Tasmania where they would suffer additional punishment and solitary confinement.

Tasmania

Port Arthur Prison Colony site

Main article: History of Tasmania

In 1803 the first 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. From this location a second expedition was sent to locate other suitable locations, and in 1804 the settlement at Sullivan's Cove, Tasmania was founded by Captain David Collins. This latter became known as Hobart, and the original settlement at Risdon Cove was abandoned.

Starting in 1816 free settlers began arriving from Great Britain and on 3 December 1825 Tasmania was declared a colony separate from New South Wales.

In 1830 the Port Arthur penal settlement was established. Convicts sent to this settlement had usually re-offended during their sentence of transportation. This was known as a particularly harsh prison. Experimentation with the so called model prison system took place in Port Arthur.

The Macquarie Harbour penal colony on the West Coast of Tasmania was also established. Transportation to Tasmania ended in 1853.

Queensland

Main article: History of Queensland

Commissariat Store completed in 1829 with convict labor

In 1823 John Oxley sailed north from Sydney to inspect Port Curtis and Moreton Bay as possible sites for a penal colony. At Moreton Bay he found the Brisbane River which Cook had guessed would exist and explored the lower part of it. In September 1824, he returned with soldiers and established a temporary settlement at Redcliffe. On December 2 1824, the settlement was transferred to where the Central Business District (CBD) of Brisbane now stands. The settlement was at first called Edenglassie. In 1839 Transportation of convicts ceased. Brisbane penal settlement closes. In 1842 free settlement was permitted and Britons began to colonize the area voluntarily. On 6 June 1869 Queensland became a separate colony from New South Wales.

Western Australia

A Fremantle prison facility built with convict labor

Main Article: Convictism in Western Australia

Transportation of convicts to Western Australia did not begin until 1850 and lasted until 1868. During that period, over 9,000 convicts were transported to the colony, on 43 convict ships.

The first convicts to arrive in what is now Western Australia were convicts transported to New South Wales, sent by that colony to King George Sound 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 nearly four years; in November 1830, control of the settlement was transferred to the Swan River Colony, and the troops and convicts withdrawn.

In April 1848, Charles Fitzgerald was appointed Governor of Western Australia. He petitioned Britain to send convicts to Western Australia for labor. Britain had refused to send convicts for a fixed term, but offered to send out first offenders in the final years of their terms.

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 of convicts, 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 convicts were set to work creating infrastructure for the convict system, including the construction of the Convict Establishment itself.

Western Australia's convict era only 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, the Hougoumont, left Britain in 1867 and arrived in Western Australia on 10 January 1868.

Victoria

It was not until the Henty Brothers landed in Portland Bay in 1834, and John Bateman settled on the site of Melbourne, that the Port Phillip District was officially sanctioned (1837).The first immigrant ships arrived at Port Phillip in 1839. Between 1844 and 1849 about 1750 convicts arrived there from England. They were referred to either as "Exiles" or the "Pentonvillians" because most of them came from Pentonville Probationary Prison. The Port Phillip District was still part of New South Wales at this stage. Victoria separated from New South Wales and became an independent colony in 1851.

Cessation of transportation

As the colonies became more oriented towards a free society, and representative government was granted, the "transportation" of convicts was gradually phased out from 1840.

Queensland was the first state to abandon transportation. The last convict transport arrived in 1839 as the Transportation of convicts ceased and the Brisbane penal settlement was closed.

New South Wales abolished transportation of convicts in 1840, by which time 150,000 convicts had been sent to Australia.

Convict transportation to Tasmania was first suspended in 1846, but was begun again in 1848. In 1853 at Jubilee festival in Hobart the end of convict transportation was celebrated after the arrival of the last ship, the St Vincent.

The last convict ship to arrive in Western Australia, the Hougoumont, left Britain in 1867 and arrived in Western Australia on 10 January 1868.

Legacy

The history of convictism in the British Australian colonies is etched into the minds of most Australians even today. The lasting effects of the long dead practice are still felt in some areas of life. Many Australians can accurately trace their lineage back to colonial times, and most cases being related to one of the original British convicts invokes a sense of national pride.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} It should be remembered that these convicts were, for the most part, not violent criminals, but rather petty thieves, supporters of Irish independence, or victims of an inept British social system. This attitude is, however, a relatively new phenomenon in Australia. Until after the Second World War most Australians felt a sense of shame about the existence of British Convicts in what is now Australia, and many did not even attempt to investigate their families' origins for fear that they could be descended from criminals. This is known as the Convict Stain attitude. This makes the research today all the more difficult.

British and Irish convicts and ex-convicts, became an important class in Australian society, because they were the most significant source of labour until the mid-19th century.

Not all Australian settlements were official penal colonies and most were established by free settlers, looking for opportunities. Other examples of free settlements are: Canberra, Darwin, Newcastle, The Gold Coast, Cairns, Melbourne, and Alice Springs.

Famous Convicts transported to Australia

Esther Abrahams - one of the few Jewish convicts.
Billy Blue - established a ferry service.
Mary Bryant - famous escapee.
William Buckley - famously associated with natives.
Martin Cash - Famous escapee.
Margaret Dawson - First Fleeter, "founding mother".
Francis Greenway - famous Australian architect.
Mark Jeffrey - wrote famous auto-biography
Lawrence Kavenagh - notorious bushranger
William Redfern - one of the few surgeon convicts.
Mary Reibey - operated a fleet of ships.
James Ruse - successful farmer
Joseph Wild - explorer

References

Gillen, Mollie, The Founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet, Sydney, Library of Australian History, 1989.
Bateson, Charles, The Convict Ships, 1787–1868, Sydney, 1974.
Hughes, Robert, The Fatal Shore, London, Pan, 1988.
A Pictorial History of Australia, Rex & Thea Rienits, Hamlyn Publishing group, 1969.
Gordon Greenwood, Australia: A Social and Political History, Angus and Robertson 1955.
Edward Shann, An Economic History of Australia, Georgian House 1930.
Alexander, Alison. Editor. The Companion to Tasmanian History. Hobart, 2005. ISBN 1 86295 223 X
Robson, Lloyd. History of Tasmania, 2 Volumes.