What Was Life Like For Convicts In Australia? Convicts were often quite comfortable. They lived in two or three roomed houses, shared with fellow convicts or with a family. They had tables and chairs, cooked dinner (like pea and ham soup) over a fireplace and ate their food on china crockery using silver cutlery!
What happened to the convicts when they arrived in Australia? Free settlers were moving to Australia, and convicts were increasingly employed to work for them. As convicts either finished their sentence, or were pardoned, they were able to earn a living and sustain themselves through jobs and land grants. By the mid-1830s, most convicts were assigned to private employment.
How were convicts treated in Australia? Early convicts were mainly given pardons, which could be given at any stage from first arrival in Australia to the end of their full sentence. Pardons could be absolute or conditional, with conditions usually restricting travel from the colony.
What did Australian convicts do in their free time? Convicts played cards or games like chess or draughts that required different sorts of tokens, many of which were handmade. These might have been carved from animal bones (perhaps saved from dinner) or pieces of ceramic and wood they found, or cast in lead.
What were the conditions like for convicts on the First Fleet?
On board ship conditions were harsh. The convicts spent much of their time below decks, with a bucket for water and a bucket for waste, which was carried away on deck to dispose of. Despite this, the cramped conditions meant disease could spread very quickly and dysentery and cholera were common.
What was life like on a convict ship?
A convict’s life was not easy. Their accommodation was rough and the work was hard and the food was only what had been brought over on the ship until they had established their own food supply. When the ship landed it would be a day or two before the male prisoners where off loaded.
What did female convicts do?
Convict women were employed in domestic service, washing and on government farms, and were expected to find their own food and lodging. Punishment for those who transgressed was humiliating and public. Exile itself was considered a catalyst for reform.
How were female convicts treated on the First Fleet?
Women were seen as whores. According to officer in command of the expedition convict women threw themselves at the sailors and Royal Marines in “promiscuous intercourse” and “their desire to be with the men was so uncontrollable that neither shame nor punishment could deter them”.
What was life like in the 1800s in Australia?
Factory owners were keen to exploit children as cheap labour.In the 1800’s children had to work in Factories and mines. Children were often hired at the same time as their parents and worked as young as 4 for up to 14 hours a day. They only had Sundays off and had no holidays.
What did child convicts do in Australia?
All convicts, including children were expected to work. If they behaved badly, their youth did not protect them from being punished as harshly as adult convicts. Some child convicts went on to learn a trade, gain their freedom and live successful lives.
What did convicts sleep?
Convicts slept in hammocks that were folded away each morning. Each ward had a large wooden tub that served as a communal toilet. The convicts had to carefully carry these tubs outside daily to be emptied and cleaned.
What were punishments for convicts?
Throughout the convict era, ‘flogging’ (whipping) convicts with a cat-o’-nine-tails was a common punishment for convicts who broke the rules. In Australia today, flogging a prisoner with a whip or keeping them locked in a dark cell for a long period of time is not an acceptable form of punishment.
Who was the youngest convict sent to Australia?
John Hudson, described as ‘sometimes a chimney sweeper’, was the youngest known convict to sail with the First Fleet. Voyaging on board the Friendship to NSW, the boy thief was 13 years old on arrival at Sydney Cove. He was only nine when first sentenced.
What was life like on the Lady Penrhyn?
Lady Penrhyn had difficulty in her sailing abilities, often lagging behind the other ships. The woman convicts caused numerous problems on the voyage and were punished for thieving, fighting and abusive language. There was an exchange of three seamen between HMS Sirius and Lady Penrhyn.
What did child convicts wear?
A list of the clothing shows that male children had a blue jacket made from Kersey cloth, a waistcoat, trousers, three shirts, two pairs of stockings, a woollen cap, a neckerchief and a pair of shoes.
How long did it take for convicts to get to Australia?
The eleven ships which arrived on 26 January 1788 are known as the First Fleet. They carried around 1400 convicts, soldiers and free people. The journey from England to Australia took 252 days and there were around 48 deaths on the voyage.
What crimes did female convicts commit?
The crime of stealing clothes, along with jewellery, fabrics, and other household items, was particularly common among female convicts, especially those who worked as domestic servants or prostitutes.
What skills did convicts have?
Many were skilled carpenters, blacksmiths or cobblers (shoemakers). , convicts worked to turn large wooden logs into smaller timber planks for buildings. They also made doors, window frames, shutters and roof shingles. Down at the edge of Sydney Harbour, convicts built boats and made rope and sails for ships.
Why did they choose Australia for the convicts?
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 …
What was life like in the 1850s in Australia?
In the 1850s, people – especially children – often died from diseases which rarely kill Australians today, like scarlet fever, pneumonia, diphtheria and consumption (tuberculosis). However, children were most likely to die from drinking water contaminated by human ‘poo’ …
What was it like to live in Australia before 1900?
Before 1900, there was no actual country called Australia, only the six colonies – New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia. While these colonies were on the same continent, they were governed like six rival countries and there was little communication between them.
What was life like in the 1880s in Australia?
During the 1870s and 1880s the economy was booming, but a severe drought lasting four years from 1890 crippled the economy, resulting in widespread unemployment, poverty and industrial strikes.
Who was the youngest girl convict on the First Fleet?
was the youngest female convict, at 13, on the First Fleet. She received seven years transportation at the Old Bailey in January 1787, for being accused of stealing clothes from the clog maker she was working for.
What clothes did convicts wear?
Male convicts in Australia typically wore prison ‘slops’, with calico, duff or canvas trousers, striped cotton shirt and grey wool jacket. In later years, inmates in female factories wore drab cotton clothing stencilled with a ‘C’, and convict women might have their heads shaved.
Why do you think convicts were weighed before and after the treadmill?
Doctors and humanitarians were concerned that this type of punishment might be damaging to health. An overseer recorded in the ‘House of Correction Register’ each man’s weight as they went on and came off the treadmill to make sure they weren’t wasting away.