Convicts to Australia Essay

Submitted By sarahmatto
Words: 2426
Pages: 10
Open Document
Our Convict Ancestors
Life in Australia wasn’t always as it is today. Many changes occurred throughout the 18th century. Europe hit its highest peaks as the industrial revolution changed society and everything else. The population grew rapidly, approximately by 27 million over a period of 150 years. This population rise catered for the extremely high demand for labourers needed at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Yet as the population increased, the crime rates increased greatly as well. This occurred greatly in Britain, and with the strict laws in place, many were sent to prisons, leaving all the prisons heavily overcrowded. The government had to respond to this dilemma quickly and began sending the prisoners abroad in order to colonise newly discovered regions, far from Britain, one of them being Australia. The convicts travelled harsh conditions; some not even surviving the journey. They travelled to establish new colonies on the other side of the world which eventually lead to the establishment of Australia and the significant nation it is.
The Industrial Revolution was a time in the 18th and 19th century when Britain transformed from a predominately agricultural nation, into the most manufacturing workshop of the world (Woolacott, 2012). For most it was generally a good thing, but for some they weren’t so lucky. Major changes in the industry and transportation occurred. It started in the mid-1700s in Great Britain when machinery began to replace manual labour. The first great change was to energy: human labour and animal labour were replaced by steam, then gas and electricity. Machinery was the next greatest change. A huge flow of inventions and ideas as well as new techniques that transformed the way important things such as coal and steel were made. The third great change was to size or scale of the production. Very few large factories existed before 1750, but as of around 1700 many industries converted from small workshops to larger factories hiring hundreds of people.
Political changes also occurred during the industrial revolution. 19th-century Britain experienced political unrest as the industrialization and urbanization of the country created a need for social and political change. There were increasing demands for improved social welfare, education, labour rights, political rights and equality, as well as for the abolition of the slave trade and changes in the electoral system. As a result, the slave trade was abolished in 1807.
The population grew rapidly, especially in Germany, England and America. The general population increase was aided by a greater supply of food made available by the Agricultural Revolution, and by the growth of medical science and public health measures which decreased the death rate and added to the population base. Until the Industrial Revolution, most of the people lived in rural areas. However, by mid-nineteenth century, half of the English people lived in cities, and by the end of the century, the same occurred in other European countries.
The Industrial Revolution had quite an impact on crime rates in Great Britain. Many people stopped working on farms and living in rural areas around Great Britain, and instead moved to the city. The city became quickly overcrowded and food became scarce and extremely expensive when accessible. Not many jobs were available compared to the numbers f people that were there at the time, therefore due to high numbers, many lost their job. Individual business owners who stated their own factories became very rich in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, but the people working in factories before the Industrial Revolution became very poor. With many families not being able to get the sufficient funds to support them, many turned to a life or crime. The American and French Revolution also played a part in the transportation of convicts to Australia.
The American Revolution played quite a large role in the moving of people to
Show More

Related Documents: Convicts to Australia Essay

Why Did Britain Send Convicts To Australia

did Britain send convicts to Australia? During the later half of the 18th Century, the world was filled with war and competition for imperialistic endeavours and strategies. Economic and military gains in countries meant wealth, and wealth meant power. After the events of the American War of Independence in 1775 -1783, Britain, one of the most powerful countries at the time, was overflowing with convicts who were waiting to be shipped off. As they could no longer send their convicts to America, it…

Words 575 - Pages 3

Sydney Cove Gender Roles

The Project: In July 1789, two hundred and thirty-seven women convict left England for Sydney Cove Australia on board a ship called the Lady Juliana. The destination of this ship was a place called Sydney Cove, where the first fleet that sailed from England for Australia had already established a colony. When the Lady Juliana arrived in June of 1790, they were confronted with a fledgling settlement that was in desperate need of tools and seeds, not women. Some of the women were prostitutes in England…

Words 1125 - Pages 5

Explain How Convicts Have Shaped Australian Society

In 1788, prisoners of the European government were sent to Australia because the prisons were too full. After the transportation of these convicts, they have helped to shape modern Australia through many different ways. When convicts first inhabited the newly found regions of Australia, they built towns, grew crops and built roads, which ultimately started civilisation. they created trade and expansion routes to help grow the booming British empire. In the short term, they quickly opened trade…

Words 500 - Pages 2

Essay about Australian History

account for the British decision to transport convicts to NSW in 1786? Which one is the most convincing? It was obvious that gaols in Britain were becoming dangerously full and that something had to be done to reduce the number of unwanted convicts. The quicker and cheaper solution would have been to send the convicts to Canada or to an island in the West Indies, but as we know, Australia was the chosen destination. The idea of exporting the convicts to the other side of the world is questionable…

Words 754 - Pages 4

Wgu Economic Task 1

ASSESSMENT UNIT : VU21481 STUDENT NAME : JYUE-YU SYU STUDENT ID : GEC000009W TASK1 EXAMINE THE COASTAL EXPLORATION OF AUSTRALIA PRIOR TO 1778 1. Tahiti/New Zealand/The Great Southern Land(Australia) 2. The sea was dangerous. The winds did not always low in the right direction for the sea travel and it was such a long way. Difficult to bring enough food and water. 3. People could make a lot of money from the trade and from gathering natural resources. People loved the idea of sea adventures and…

Words 1352 - Pages 6

Industrial Revolution/Australian Colonization Essay examples

Industrial Revolution Leading to Transportation to Australia As the city became riddled with factories and as the industrial revolution began many people were losing their jobs through the population boom of many people trying to get a job in a factory, because of this there was not enough food and other supplies to go around. People had to scavenge for food but every small crime was an imprisonable offence. You could be imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread. Due to all the access of prisoners…

Words 821 - Pages 4

Joseph Banks History Essay

Joseph Banks thought that colonising Australia would be advantageous for Britain. To what extent was it advantageous to those living in Australia? Australia had been lived in by Aborigines for over 40,000 years prior to white settlement. At present, Australia is currently a thriving multicultural society. Joseph Banks and others of his time believed that colonising Australia would be of great advantage to Britain as it would free up prison space, establish trade routes with surrounding countries…

Words 1701 - Pages 7

Why A Site Listing World Immigrants To VDL/Tasmania To 1900?

From 1853, with the cessation of convict transportation from the British Empire, it became known as Tasmania. At the 1996 Census, 13,873 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people registered as living in Tasmania (ABS 1301.6 – Tasmanian Year Book, 2000), and in 2010 just over 500,000 people were living in Tasmania with, according to Alexander (2010), more than 70% having [some] convict ancestry. This is not surprising, considering that more than 72,000 convicts were transported to VDL. The…

Words 2098 - Pages 9

Essay on Australia and Ellis Ashmead- Bartlett

The convict people that were transported from Europe to Australia varied across what kind of people they were and what crimes they committed. The main group of people sent to Australia for committing crimes were those who committed theft and crimes against property. All the Europeans and -The convicts transported were sent from theft -all from the working class -occupation of convicts ranged from factory boys to hairdressers -majority of women were domestic servants -majority of convicts come…

Words 397 - Pages 2

A Suburban Delight Analysis

A Suburban Delight is a primary source. Transportation of convicts to Australia occurred between 1788 and 1868. The cartoon was published in 1857, a decade before England stopped transporting convicts to Australia. The humorous illustration shows two convicts on either side of a man asking him to accompany them into a dark alleyway saying that they are afraid of being garrotted. This could be interpreted on two levels. The literal interpretation is that even criminals are afraid of the amount of…

Words 418 - Pages 2