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During the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain one of the common forms of punishment for breaking the law was transportation. Prisons wre so full in England and the British wanted to send bad people out of the country. Prisoners sent to another country by ship were called convicts. After the War of Independence , America did not let Britain send any more convicts. Prisons soon filled and something had to be done with the prisoners. This was one of the main reasons the British decided to settle in Australia. Until that time Australia had not been interesting as a place to live in. there were no suitable goods, such as spices, for trade the climate was much hotter and drier than in Europe and the vegetation was very different. No Europeans had shown interest in the country. However, the problem nof prisoners was a very big one for the British and the decicion was made to start a colony in Australia.
The first Fleet of eleven sailing-ships with 1.500 people including about 800 convicts left England under governor Philip in May 1787. it arrived at Botany near sydney on 18 January 1788. food supplies for the first two years were carried as it was not expected that the colony could supply itself within a short time. A settlement was built north of Botany Bay at Port Jackson , today Sydney Harbour.
During the next eighty years more than 160.000 convicts were transported . Convicts had to stay either 7 years , 14 years or their whole life in prison. Most convicts came from cities. The normal convict was poor, uneducated and had often done something against the law although this was often just stealing a loaf of bread. The bad social conditions in England and the extreme punishments for crimes at those times need to be known before saying that all the convicts were bad by nature. For many it was a matter of life or death and the fight for food. Those convicted of serious crimes were normally hung, not transported. A small number of educated men , especially poitical prisoners were people who had organised and been in strikes and demonstrations against so many people being poor and unemployment . there were many Irish and Scotsmen who did not like the English.
The handling of convicts was very different depending on the time they were sent out , their crime , their behaviour and those in control. Up until 1820 Governor Macquarie's ideas were used. These were that people who had not had a good start and a fair chance in life could return to the right way if controlled carefully and given a chance. The government authorities had very little housing for convicts and they were not usually locked in to the prisons at night. Many worked for the government and were free to work for themselves after 3 o clock in the afternoon. Others were sent to work for free settlers as servants or farm workers on new farms. A convict had the chance of freedom before his time if he behaved well. A "ticket of leave" freed him and let him work for himself under certain conditions. A "conditional pardon" made him free as long as he did not return to Britain. Until 1820 freed convicts were often given land and tools to help start a farm.
The system became much worse after an enquiry in 1820. This said that conditions were too good for convicts and ex-convicts. The result of the report was protests in Britain which costs bad changes.
Generally , conditions were made worse and there were more chain gangs where prisoners were chained together by the feet. They had to walk and work with these chains. Special prison settlements witch very bad conditions and terrible punishments were also set up by the British in Tasmania and on Norfolk Island.
Various factors brought an end to the convict era. Free setlers did not like the convicts as they were cheap workers for the landowners. A landowner would take a cheap convict before he would pay more for a free worker. Free convicts wanted to stop discrimination against them and strong criticism of the terrible handling of convicts came from Australia and Britain. In London, a comitee from the House of Commons for the British Government decided that as many prisoners expected better conditions in Australia than in England, transportation was not effective. From 1840 convict numbers dropped and transportation was finally stoppen in 1868.
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