Transportation

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Transportation

What happened to the convicts

transferred to hulks (kept there until there were enough for a voyage) - common for there to be deaths.

on board the ship: conditions were terrible - many died. The journey: around 8 months.

on arrival: convicts were assigned to settlers - to work for them. How they were treated was a matter of luck.

well behaved convicts: got the ticket of leave - motive for good behaviour, gave them a sense of opportunity.

prisoners who committed more crimes: treated very harshly. some went to Tasmania, a penal colonie in Australia.

Did it achieve its aims?

Aims:

to provide an alternative to hanging

act as a deterrent

to get rid of criminals

to reform criminals

to allow Australia to be settled and developed.

What happened:

many convicts reformed, now live peacefully and find work in Aus.

transportation very expensive, prisons cheaper.

free settlers in Aus have set up societies to protect us against dumping convicts in their country.

crime has not fallen.

Aus is now well established as part of the British Empire.

it is now seen as more of an opportunity.

wages are higher in Aus.

in 1851 gold was discovered in Aus. A gold rush began with thousands in Britain trying to find the money to buy a ticket to Aus.

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