Transportation to Australia

Why were British prisoners sent to Australia?

As previously discussed, transportation was attractive for several reasons, but why use transportation instead of imprisonment?

• When transportation to Australia began in the 1780s, prisons were still uncommon.
• Prisons in the 18th century largely consisted of localised holding cells, that were not meant to hold prisoners for prolonged periods. Their purpose was to hold apprehended criminals until they could be punished.
• This was an era before punishment focused on the rehabilitation of criminals, and harsh punishments were used instead, intended to deter potential criminals.
• Much like execution, transportation would remove undesirable criminals from society, and hopefully deter others.

By the mid-nineteenth century, modern victorian prisons such as Pentonville began to become a common part of the justice system. Consequently, transportation became less common before ending altogether by the 1860s.

Gang of convicts in Sydney 1830, Wikimedia Commons

Who was transported to Australia?

• Between 1787 and 1868, 162,000 convicts would be sent to Australia.
• 80% of those convicts transported were guilty of theft, with many being repeat offenders.
• Another significant bulk of the convicts would be those involved in protest movements, such as the Luddites, the Scottish Radicals or the Chartist movement. Although depriving these movements of their leadership in Britain, it would fuel several uprisings in the Australian colonies.
• Only 15% of those transported were women, causing issues in the new colonies.

Transportation of convicts to America and Australia: beginnings

Transportation is usually associated with Australia but was originally practised in the North American colonies. Transportation first began in 1654, but upon the formal end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 and American independence, North America was no longer a viable option for convict transport.

Conveniently, Captain James Cook claimed Australia for Great Britain in 1770. To compensate for the loss of the American colonies, the British Government sent a fleet of ships, the first fleet, commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip to set up a new penal colony in Botany Bay, New South Wales on Australia’s east coast. The first fleet arrived in Australia in 1788.

Portrait of Captain James Cook, Picryl

The First Fleet

The First Fleet consisted of about 1000 people, 72% of whom were convicts. 40% of these criminals would die over the eight-month journey.

Upon arrival, the free colonists had a multitude of free labour at their disposal, but the group lacked skilled tradespeople.

First Fleet 1788, Wikimedia Commons

Convict transportation to Australia: conditions

Although prisons in a modern sense were non-existent, holding facilities known as hulks were used to detain prisoners awaiting transportation. These hulks usually consisted of old prison or navy ships moored on the Thames and were just as cramped and uncomfortable as the prison ships themselves.

To make matters worse, criminals' sentences only began once they arrived in Australia, so time spent in the hulk and the journey was not counted. The ship would only set sail once the hulk was full, potentially adding up to a year to a convict's sentence.

Conditions after arriving in Australia for well-behaved prisoners could be rather favourable. They could be assigned to build roads, break rocks or carry out work for a free settler. Some convicts even secured early release for good behaviour. Sentences varied from seven to fourteen years and life sentences, but early release was usually after four years.

For those not so well behaved, the punishment was ruthless and harsh. This consisted of work in isolated chain gangs or whippings.

Due to the distance and opportunities, most former convicts stayed in their new homes, not being able to afford to return to Britain.

Convict being flogged in Tasmania, Wikimedia Commons

The end of transportation to Australia: changing attitudes

By the 1860s, changing attitudes led to the end of transportation to Australia altogether, with the practice becoming significantly outdated and inefficient - why was this?

From the government's point of view, running a penal colony was expensive, particularly in comparison to the new prisons that were being built. Why transport a convict to the other side of the world when they could be imprisoned at home and rehabilitated?

Regarding its original purpose as a deterrent, conditions in impoverished areas were often so dire that Australia came to be seen as a more desirable place to live.

• Convicts could receive free transport to Australia and the prospect of starting a new life, and this could be achieved by committing the pettiest of crimes.
• The journey became shorter and safer and could be considered a reasonable risk worth taking.
• These factors were only inflated by the fact that gold was discovered in Australia in 1851, causing many new settlers to travel on their own accord, in search of adventure and riches.

Gold mining in Queensland 1869, Wikimedia Commons

From the free settlers' point of view, transportation became a major issue.

• When transportation first commenced in the 1780s, Australia was largely uninhabited by European settlers.
• Almost one hundred years later, after the arrival of hundreds of thousands of convicts and settlers, the free settlers were not too impressed with the constant influx of new convicts, blaming them for crime and unrest in the settlements.
• It was also difficult for free settlers to obtain employment, competing with convicts who were paid nothing.

Additionally, Australia had become a nation in its own right and therefore did not want to remain the destination of British convicts.

A combination of all these factors led to the complete abolition of transportation as a punishment in 1868.