The History of the Australian Penal Colonies

The History of the Australian Penal Colonies

Abel Magwitch was one of the two acquitted criminals in Dickens' Great Expectations. The convicts in this novel were sent to either Newgate prison or shipped to Australia where they were placed in penal settlements. Magwitch was sent to New South Wales for his connections with Compeyson (the other convict) and was sentenced on felony charges of swindling and forgery. Convicts sent to penal settlements suffered the same abuse that slaves were exposed to. The difference lies in the fact that these men and women were in these settlements because of crimes committed such as pickpocketing and murder. Such settlements were New South Wales, Van Dieman's Land, Devil's Island, and Botany Bay, to name a few. In fact, "Botany Bay meant convicts and was looked upon merely as the fit receptacle of national crime" (Inglis 4). Convicts were sent to these settlements as a way to curb the number of felons in the British Isles. Settlements created a place to live and work in order to change or correct the character of the convict. During the nineteenth century, convicts made up most of the population of Australia with a mere fraction of actual free emigrants. The Australian penal settlements helped to develop a new penal theory as well as different view of Australia. By looking at the journey of the convicts, their service, jobs, authorities, punishment, and freedom, we will be able to understand the complicated theory of penal ideas and the plight of Magwitch, Pip's convict.

Many convicts began their servitude during transportation. Convicts entered upon what some call a "repressive penal system" through a long oversea journey (Connah 50). The problem with this journey was that "no vessel was specially designed and built as a convict ship" (Batesan 68). This would make the transportation of convicts difficult. These were the kind of ships that Pip saw at the Hulks waiting to take prisoners or waiting to find them in order to continue on their journey, just as they had waited for Compeyson and Magwitch. Often, transportation of convicts was called "convictism"; convicts were thrown on a boat and spent many days in waiting (Inglis 12). Usually the voyage "took eight months, six of them at sea and two in ports for supplies and repairs" (Inglis 6). Often, many convicts died along the way. The case of the Second Fleet in the very beginning of transportation "was the worst in the history of transportation" (O'Brien 168).