Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: Was Australia a prison colony?
The British Government began transporting convicts overseas to American colonies in the early 17th century. When transportation ended with the start of the American Revolution, an alternative site was needed to relieve further overcrowding of British prisons and hulks. Earlier in 1770, James Cook charted and claimed possession of the east coast of Australia for Britain. Seeking to pre-empt the French colonial empire from expanding into the region, Britain chose Australia as the site of a penal colony, and in 1787, the First Fleet of eleven convict ships set sail for Botany Bay, arriving on 20 January 1788 to found Sydney, New South Wales, the first European settlement on the continent. Other penal colonies were later established in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1803 and Queensland in 1824, while Western Australia, founded in 1829 as a free colony, received convicts from 1850. South Australia and Victoria, established in 1836 and 1850 respectively, remained free colonies. Penal transportation to Australia peaked in the 1830s and dropped off significantly the following decade as protests against the convict system intensified throughout the colonies. In 1868, almost two decades after transportation to the eastern colonies had ceased, the last convict ship arrived in Western Australia.
Once the prison came under the control of the colonial government, it was renamed Fremantle Prison. All prisoners in Perth Gaol were transferred to Fremantle, and from 1887 female prisoners were also imprisoned there, in their own separate section. The Western Australian gold rushes of the 1890s resulted in strong economic growth, and a massive increase in population: doubling from almost 50,000 in 1891 to more than 100,000 by 1895, and to 184,000 by 1901. This influx included desperate, dishonest people, from elsewhere in Australia and overseas, and Fremantle Prison was soon overcrowded.
The 1890s also saw a growing public unease with the treatment of prisoners. In September 1898 a Royal Commission was established by the Governor of Western Australia to investigate the colony's penal system. The commission heard evidence from almost 240 witnesses, including a range of prisoners. Three reports were made between December 1898 and June 1899, dealing with the most recognisable and prominent issues including classification, sentencing, punishments, and diet. In particular, they considered the philosophy of the prison system – the causes of crime, as well as the types of punishments and their justifications – and in light of this, the practicality of various reform proposals.
The Round House, at Arthur Head, Fremantle, is the oldest building still standing in Western Australia. It built in 1830, and used as a prison for colonial and indigenous prisoners until 1886.
After the loss of the United States, Britain experienced overcrowding of its prisons and sought to ease the problems by transportation of its prisoners. In 1787 the First Fleet of 11 ships and about 1350 people under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip sailed for Australia. On 26 January 1788 a landing was made at Sydney Cove. The new colony was formally proclaimed as the Colony of New South Wales on 7 February. Other transport fleets bringing further convicts as well as freemen to the colony followed. As a result of agitation by the free settlers in Sydney, transportation of convicts to Sydney ended in 1840. It continued to the colonies of Van Diemen's Land (where settlement began in 1803) and Moreton Bay (founded 1824, and later renamed Queensland) for some years longer. The small settlement of Perth, founded in 1829 on the Swan River in Western Australia by free settlers, failed to prosper and asked for convicts. In contrast, South Australia, with its capital Adelaide founded in 1836, and Victoria, with its capital Melbourne founded in 1839, was settled only by free settlers. South Australia not only received British migrants, but also a significant influx of Prussian farmers and tradesmen, initially seeking freedom from religious persecution. By the end of the penal transportation in 1868, approximately 165,000 people had entered Australia as convicts.
Parkhurst began in 1778 as a military hospital and children's asylum. By 1838, it was a prison for children. 123 Parkhurst apprentices were sent to the Colony of New Zealand in 1842 and 1843, and a total of almost 1500 boys between the ages of 12 and 18 years were sent to various colonies in Australia and New Zealand. Swan River Colony (Western Australia) received 234 between 1842 and 1849, then chose to accept adult convicts as well. Victoria and Tasmania also received Parkhurst Boys, who were always referred to as "apprentices", not "convicts". Prison Governor Captain George Hall employed boys to make bricks to build the C and M block wings onto the building.
Throughout the European history of Australia, particularly since its formation as a penal colony, Australia has had many establishments for rehabilitation and incarceration. Altogether, there have been more than 180+ rehabilitation centres, youth correctional centres and prisons in Australia.
Early in 1839, the Governor of Western Australia, John Hutt, received from the Colonial Office a circular asking if the colony would be prepared to accept juvenile prisoners who had first been reformed in "penitentiaries especially adapted for the purpose of their education and reformation". After seeking comment from the Western Australian Agricultural Society, Hutt responded that, "The Majority of the Community would not object to boys not above 15 years of age..." but that the labour market could not support more than 30 boys per year. 234 juvenile prisoners were subsequently transported from Parkhurst Prison to Western Australia between 1842 and 1849. These Parkhurst apprentices were then "apprenticed" to local employers.
Norfolk Island (an external territory of Australia) was originally a penal colony, but now in 2018 the territory has no prisons at all.
The arrival of the convicts was a surprise to many of the Swan River Colony settlers, as Western Australia had petitioned for convicts but had not yet received a reply when "Scindian" arrived. As no preparations had been made for their arrival, the colony had no jail capable of housing so many convicts. This had been anticipated, and only convicts with a record of good behaviour had been sent. The convicts were initially housed in the warehouse premises of the harbourmaster, which is now the Esplanade Hotel. Shortly after the arrival, work began on the building of a Convict Establishment prison, now Fremantle Prison. After the pensioners arrived, the governor of the colony inducted 100 of them into a armed constabulary force; one of their first tasks was building the prison. The second convict transport to Western Australia was , which arrived on 25 October.
Morgan's Run is a historical novel by Colleen McCullough published in 2000 about the life of an English prisoner driven to the first penal colonies in Australia in the 18th century. Much of the novel is set in the penal colony on Norfolk Island. It starts off with the prisoner's life in Bristol, England and describes in detail his survival of the transportation on a prison ship to Norfolk Island and how he dared to hope in the hard life of a convict.
Parkhurst apprentices were juvenile prisoners from Parkhurst Prison, sentenced to "transportation beyond the seas", but pardoned on arrival at their destination on the conditions that they be "apprenticed" to local employers, and that they not return to England during the original term of their sentence. Between 1842 and 1849, Western Australia accepted 234 Parkhurst apprentices, all males aged between 10 and 21. As Western Australia was not then a penal colony, contemporary documents studiously avoided referring to the prisoners as "convicts", and the ships that brought them were not officially recognised as convict ships there. English records were not so reticent, classing as convict ships the seven ships that transported Parkhurst apprentices to Western Australia.
Initially the colony was run as an open prison under the governance of Royal Navy Captain Arthur Phillip. Later, as more free settlers were attracted to Australia and transportation was ceased in the mid-1800s, the nature of the colonies changed as Australia began to emerge as a modern, self-sustaining society and after the 1850s the colonies were progressively granted responsible government, allowing them to manage most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. Nevertheless, the Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, including foreign affairs and defence. As a result, until the 1870s when the last imperial troops were withdrawn, British regular troops constantly garrisoned the colonies. During their postings to Australia, most of the regiments rotated duties in the various colonies, and often had detachments located in geographically diverse locations at the same time.
The court was empowered to deal with any crimes committed in the colony of New South Wales. The colony at that time took in what is now Tasmania, then called Van Diemen's Land, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, and of the course the current state of New South Wales. The scope of the colony was quite limited in its early days, so jurisdiction over places such as South Australia did not practically occur. In the case of Van Diemen's Land, the court rarely sat there, and prisoners were brought to Sydney for trial, or dealt with summarily in Hobart. The court also had jurisdiction to deal with offences in the colony of Norfolk Island, although it did not sit on that island. Prisoners were usually shipped back to Sydney to be dealt with. Technically, the court had jurisdiction over offences committed in New Zealand but practically did not deal with any such matters.
In 1787, the "First Fleet" of convict ships departed from England to establish the first British settlement in Australia, as a penal colony. The fleet arrived at Port Jackson (Sydney) on 26 January 1788, a date now celebrated as Australia Day. Norfolk Island was a convict penal settlement from 1788–94, and again from 1824-47. The First Fleet included boats containing food and animals from London. The ships and boats of the fleet would explore the coast of Australia by sailing all around it looking for suitable farming land and resources. In 1803, Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania) was also settled as a penal colony, followed by the Moreton Bay Settlement (Queensland) in 1824. The other Australian colonies were "free settlements", as non-convict colonies were known. However, the Swan River Colony (Western Australia) accepted transportation from England and Ireland in 1851, to resolve a long-standing labour shortage. Until the massive influx of immigrants during the Australian gold rushes of the 1850s, the free settlers had been outnumbered by English and Irish convicts and their descendants. However, compared to America, Australia received many more English prisoners.
After his time in South Australia, Hall was governor of Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight. In his time as Governor of Parkhurst Prison, Hall proposed sending boys who were convicted in Britain to colonies as Parkhurst apprentices, whereupon they would receive a pardon on arrival in a colony, but be expected to serve out an apprenticeship before being eligible to return to Britain. This proposal was rejected by the Colony of South Australia, but accepted in Swan River Colony and forced on the Colony of New Zealand. Hall was an early advocate of using juvenile prison to rehabilitate young offenders to society rather than teaching them to be better criminals in their adult life. He sought to teach them a trade or other skills to avoid a life of crime.
Western Australia's first comptroller general of convicts, Edmund Henderson, administered the convict establishment for thirteen years. The primary responsibilities of the comptroller general were to "direct convict labour and be responsible for convict discipline". With the transfer of Fremantle Prison to the colonial government in 1886, the role of the comptroller was replaced by that of the sheriff, responsible for all of the prisons in the colony. The position of comptroller general was recreated, with duties split off from the sheriff's office, in early 1911. In 1971, the Prisons Department was renamed the Department of Corrections, restructured, and the position of comptroller general was replaced with director of the department. While the comptroller, sheriff, or director was responsible for the overall convict or prison system, largely centred around Fremantle Prison, the responsibility of the prison itself lay with the superintendent.
Convict women in Australia were British prisoners whom the government increasingly sent out during the era of transportation (1787-1868) in order to develop the penal outpost of New South Wales (now a state of Australia) into a viable colony.
Tasmania is home to a number of significant colonial Anglican buildings including those located at Australia's best preserved convict era settlement, Port Arthur. According to 19th century notions of prisoner reform, the Model Prison incorporates a grim chapel, into which prisoners in solitary confinement were shepherded to listen (in individual enclosures) to the preacher's Sunday sermon – their only permitted interaction with another human being.[33] Adelaide, the capital of South Australia has long been known as the City of Churches and its St Peter's Anglican Cathedral is a noted city landmark.[34]
During Western Australia's convict era, the prison was known as the Convict Establishment, and was used for prisoners transported from Britain. Longer term locally-sentenced prisoners were also held there from 1858, at a cost to the colonial government. In 1868, penal transportation to Western Australia ceased, and the number of convicts in the colony gradually declined, down to 83 in the mid-1880s. Due to the great expense of sending these convicts back to Britain, the authorities there negotiated with the colonial government to relinquish jurisdiction over them, as well as the prison complex – demolition was considered too expensive. Early negotiations had broken down, but were restarted in August 1883. After one and a half years, a compromise was reached, and the transfer was finalised on 31 March 1886.
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the indigenous people of Australia - Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders - had their own traditional punishments. These included:New South Wales, as the founding site for British colonisation Australia in 1788, has had prisons for as long as Australia has had European settlement. The first Australian colony was founded at Port Jackson (now Sydney) on 26 January 1788, and marked the commencement of many decades of convict arrivals from the United Kingdom. Penal colonies were also founded in what is now the states of Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia.
Four of the convicts were former sailors, and had been sent to Sarah Island (a prison colony within the larger prison colony of Van Diemen's Land) because of their history of previous failed escape attempts. Among them was Londoner James Porter, a former whaler who had previously lived in Chile and left a wife and child there, before returning to England and then being transported to Australia for the theft of silks.
In December 1828, the British Colonial Office agreed to establish a colony at Swan River in Western Australia. It then issued a circular outlining the conditions of settlement, which stated, "It is not intended that any convicts or other description of Prisoners, be sent to this new settlement." That Swan River Colony would not be a penal colony was highly attractive to many of the potential settlers, and the condition was mentioned often by promoters during the period of Swan River mania.
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, 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 offenders were set to work creating infrastructure for the convict system, including the construction of the Convict Establishment itself.
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. Later, they were set to work on other public works, especially roads. In Perth, for example, convicts built the Perth Gaol between 1854 and 1856, and some were then housed there to provide labour for capital works in the city and surrounds. The Perth Town Hall and Government House and the Canning River Convict Fence are several of the notable landmarks built by convicts.
Western Australia objected strongly to the cessation of transportation, and, once it became clear that the decision would not be altered, pushed for compensation. Governor Weld wrote to the Secretary of State for the Colonies:
Despite the colony's objections, Britain gradually began to wind the colony's penal system up, by reducing its expenditure and disposing of its assets. One by one the country convict depots were closed, and in 1872 the office of Comptroller General of Convicts was abolished. Much of the penal system's infrastructure was handed over to the colony, including the Convict Establishment, which became Fremantle Prison.