A faraway place
Transportation, a sentence of banishment across the seas, had been used to punish British criminals for centuries. Among its victims were petty thieves, military prisoners, vagabonds, anarchists and political rebels. Before 1775 Britain sent convicts to its American colonies, but the loss of these outposts in the American War of Independence meant that it urgently needed another destination.
As a short-term measure, retired warships moored on British waterways became floating prisons called 'hulks'. This helped to reduce overcrowding in local lock-ups and county jails, and inmates could perform useful public works. What the British government really wanted was a fearsome and faraway place, strategically positioned and with commercial promise. In January 1787 the British parliament announced a plan to send convicts to the newly claimed territory of New South Wales,
Exactly a year later, in January 1788, the First Fleet of 11 ships carrying convicts, crew, soldiers and marines sailed into Port Jackson and dropped anchor at Sydney Cove. Over the next 80 years more than 840 British ships would sail to the steadily expanding Australian colonies, bringing around 166,000 convicts and thousands of administrators, soldiers and family members.
As a short-term measure, retired warships moored on British waterways became floating prisons called 'hulks'. This helped to reduce overcrowding in local lock-ups and county jails, and inmates could perform useful public works. What the British government really wanted was a fearsome and faraway place, strategically positioned and with commercial promise. In January 1787 the British parliament announced a plan to send convicts to the newly claimed territory of New South Wales,
Exactly a year later, in January 1788, the First Fleet of 11 ships carrying convicts, crew, soldiers and marines sailed into Port Jackson and dropped anchor at Sydney Cove. Over the next 80 years more than 840 British ships would sail to the steadily expanding Australian colonies, bringing around 166,000 convicts and thousands of administrators, soldiers and family members.