Convicts in Australia

William Head was born in 1797 in Wymondham, Norfolk, to James Head and Elizabeth Child. We do not know much of William's life but have discovered that when he was in his 20's he and an accomplice robbed a man on the King's Highway; they stole a watch worth 20 shillings, a jacket worth 12 shillings and a handkerchief worth 2 shillings. The two were found guilty and sentenced at the Norfolk Assizes to be hanged by the neck and this was later commuted to transportation to Australia for life. William left England on July 7, 1820 and arrived in New South Wales on December 31, 1820 aboard the ship Hebe. The gruelling 153-day voyage was spent with 159 other male convicts, one of whom died en route. In 1820 the Governor of Australia was Lachlan Macquarie and the colony's population was approximately 24,000 people; this number grew to 36, 598 at the time of the first census in November 1828.  William received a Ticket of Leave in June 1829 but this was "Cancelled for appearing at Church in a state of intoxication…". He married a female convict in 1842 and eventually, in 1847, received a Conditional Pardon.  He died in 1850, a pauper.

The practice of banishing undesirables had a long history in England but it was not organized as a definite system until the Transportation Act of 1717.  Prisoners transported under this system were sent to the Americas until the Revolution of 1775 ended this traffic.  The British Government was then forced to look for alternative ways of handling the thousands of felons awaiting disposal in the hulks in Britain.  Successive governments regarded the building of penitentiaries as prohibitively expensive, whereas transportation seemed to offer many advantages: it was cheap and was regarded as a deterrent to potential criminals; it removed those criminals it failed to deter and at the same time assisted their reformation by providing them with opportunities in a new environment, away from their criminal connections; and it also provided a labour force to assist the economic development of new settlements.  By this time, Captain Cook had arrived in Australia. He ignored the original inhabitants and claimed it for Britain. After considering many proposals, the British Government decided in 1786 to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay, Australia - Port Jackson (Sydney) being the site of the first settlement..

Between 1788 and 1868 over 160 000 men, women and even children were transported to Australia as a result of being convicted for civil or political crimes.  Transportation to "the east coast of New South Wales or some one or other of the adjacent islands" was a fairly common sentence, for what we would today regard as fairly trivial offences. More serious crimes resulted in the death penalty, but a portion of these was also converted to transportation, for 7 years, 14 years or Life.

The times were very hard and much of the crime was caused by desperation. The result of so many people being sentenced was that the English jails became seriously overcrowded.  The English jails were terrible, but prisoners must have dreaded being sentenced "to be transported" far away across the world to unknown places.

So it was that the First Fleet of eleven ships set out loaded with a cargo of Convicts. They arrived in Botany Bay in 1788. After a few days there, Captain Arthur Phillip decided to move up to Port Jackson, and Sydney began as a little, struggling penal settlement. Other Australian convict settlements followed, initially on Norfolk Island and at Derwent River (the site of Hobart Town (now simply Hobart), Van Diemen's Land (VDL, now Tasmania). In later years VDL became a separate colony, but, in formal terms, NSW had the jurisdiction for many years, including New Zealand initially.

An excerpt from the Sydney Cove Chronicle dated June 30, 1790, describes the condition of prisoners arriving at New South Wales at that time:

The landing of those who remained alive despite their misuse upon the recent voyage, could not fail to horrify those who watched.

As they came on shore, these wretched people were hardly able to move hand or foot. Such as could not carry themselves upon their legs, crawled upon all fours. Those, who, through their afflictions, were not able to move, were thrown over the side of the ships; as sacks of flour would be thrown, into the small boats. Some expired in the boats; others as they reached the shore. Some fainted and were carried by those who fared better. More had not the opportunity even to leave their ocean prisons for as they came upon the decks, the fresh air only hastened their demise.

A sight most outrageous to our eyes were the marks of leg irons upon the convicts, some so deep that one could nigh on see the bones

If a convict was well behaved, he was usually assigned to a private settler as a farm labourer.  Female convicts were usually employed as house servants.  Because of the need to keep track of the convicts, from 1795 the convict population was regularly "mustered" annually, physically counted and various other details updated. The accuracy of these various musters was acknowledged as variable, at the time. The soldiers, officials, free settlers and their families were generally recorded at the same time. Since 1841, no census survives. A number from the last century were lost in a major fire, and none from this century has been retained, apparently for reasons of protection of privacy, and a fear that failure to do so would put the accuracy of the census in doubt. From 1810 to 1821 there are nominal lists of people who remained convicts and resident in the colony when Governor Macquarie took charge on January 1, 1810, updated for those who arrived up to September 1820, and for deaths, leaving the colony, etc. These alphabetic lists are apparently working lists updated from the annual musters and other records, few of which have survived in this period.

A Convict's work routine was as follows (excepting Model Prison, Asylum, Hospital and Invalids' depot):

November to February daily from 5.30am to 6pm
October and March daily from 6am to 5.30pm
September and April daily from 6.30am to 5pm
August and May daily from 7am to 5pm
June and July from 7.30am to 4.30pm

During the day there was a one hour break for dinner.

Each convict was issued with a jacket, waistcoat, trousers, shirt, cap and a pair of boots. New issues were granted every six months or in cases of wear and tear.  Uniforms would be of varying colours depending on class. Also issued to the convicts were a blanket, rug and mattress, which were replaced only when worn out or accidentally destroyed. All items issued were marked with the convict's number, and had to be reported immediately if lost.  Convicts received a daily ration of 340 grams of meat, 340 grams of vegetables, 14 grams of salt and 794 grams of flour. The diets of the inmates were relatively good for the day. A daily allowance of 14 grams of soap was allotted to each inmate, and every man was expected to be clean and neat.

A convict's family could be brought out to join him at government expense, if he was thought worthy of this indulgence, and the family given a small grant of land.  However, minor misdemeanours were frequently punished by flogging, time on the treadmill or, for slightly worse offences, assignment to a road gang.  For serious or frequent offences, the most severe punishment, short of execution, was to be transported to a penal settlement.  The most important of these were Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Moreton Bay and Norfolk Island.

Tickets of Leave were issued to convicts having served about half of their sentences with good behaviour.  These tickets allowed convicts to seek employment as they wished but limited their movement to a certain district for the remainder of their sentences.
Certificates of Freedom were issued to convicts on completion of their sentences or when they received a pardon.  Certificates were generally given to convicts whose original sentences had been for seven to fourteen years.
Conditional Pardons required that the ex-convict never return to the British Isles or their pardons would be void.
Absolute Pardons allowed ex-convicts to return to the British Isles if they wished.

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Information obtained from various sources, primarily from: http://carmen.murdoch.edu.au