Australian convict records   Tags: colonies, convicts, family_history, genealogy, penal, settlements, south_australia, transportation  

The Industrial Revolution in England resulted in large numbers of people unemployed and living in poverty. This in turn led to a huge increase in the crime rate as people became more desperate to survive.

In the late 1700s there were more than two hundred crimes in England carrying the death penalty. Overcrowding in prisons became such a problem that the government had to use left over hulks from the Napoleonic War as floating prisons.

A number of these hulks were placed on the River Thames but others were anchored in Portsmouth and Plymouth harbours. In total, the government used nine different vessels.

When these became overcrowded, Government officials saw transportation as the answer to the problem.

Someone convicted of a capital punishment and whose death sentence was commuted would usually receive fourteen years transportation. Those convicted of a non-capital offence were usually sentenced to seven years. Initially, convicts were transported to America or the West Indies, but as a result of the American Revolution, an alternative destination was necessary.

Australia was chosen as that alternative destination. The First Fleet of eleven ships set sail on 13 May 1787, arriving at Botany Bay, 20 January 1788. On arrival it was apparent that Botany Bay was not suitable for a colony and so they relocated to Port Jackson. It was here that the first European settlement in Australia was established.

By the end of the convict era, approximately 160,000 people were transported to Australian penal settlements.

South Australia was ultimately established through private enterprise by the South Australian Company and was the only state not to receive convicts.

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