American reacts to What Actually Happened To Prisoners Sent To Australia?
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- čas přidán 17. 03. 2024
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Growing up in Australia, we were taught, that just stealing a loaf of bread, could get you sent to Australia.
A lot of " convicts" were simply people trying to survive, not criminals.
But that wasn't totally true. They sanitised the truth to make it age appropriate to teach children. There were a lot of murderers, people who committed arsen etc too. Port Arthur and Cockatoo Island was where the hardened criminals went.
@@sarahhumphreys3980 Sorry, you are wrong. Most convicts were sent for what is now looked upon as minor crime with by far the majority being for a form of theft - larceny, shoplifting, stolen goods etc. Murderers were usually sentenced to death with it carried out in the UK. Only about 300 were sent which is a tiny amount out of 160,000 plus. Rape was not a transportation crime however some were sent but a tiny under 300 amount again which is tiny out of the total. Harsher settlements such as Port Arthur were where you were sent if you kept misbehaving. Boys as young as 9 were at the Port Arthur juvenile section "Point Puer". There is no sanitising.......my grandmother hid her family's past simply because she had some convict ancestors and up until recent times you were looked down on if you had some. The truth that has come out is that the vast majority of people were sent here for things that would get you a fine these days.
@@sarahhumphreys3980so not true. You were only sent to that place after you committed crimes here. There were 19 main crimes for transportation. Murderers and such were hung, not transported
Should read the book The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes
It is an accurate account of the convict trade, and very interesting
If they could survive the sentence, convicts had far more opportunity in Australia despite its harshness than in the slums of England.
Just like reparations are being paid to Caribbean countries (average wage $17,000 yearly), rather than to the Mid-African countries who lost their people (average wage $100 a year!). So are we going to be asked to pay money to decedents of prisoners, when the money should go to the Aboriginals!
@@gamingtonight1526 I don't think descendants of convicts have ever asked for that.
@jocelynhunter2359 That was very true!
@@gamingtonight1526 I don't think so!
well not completely true, many, including the free settlers, died of starvation, was only the ones that learned from the Aboriginal mobs, that survived 1st 10-20yrs, farming failed because they tried growing the way they always did, sadly only recently realising we should have listened the whole time
I know of eight convicts in my family tree. Seven of them were transported for very minor theft, and one for a substantial theft. Their lives were hard but a couple of them truly thrived and had much better lives than they could have expected if they had stayed in poverty in England. One of my ancestors was a skilled watchmaker. Even so he was required to spend 18 months working on a road-building gang. Luckily he never injured his hands and was later able to continue his trade.
That's so wild! Thanks for sharing
The relatives on my dad's side of the family were mostly convicts and being Irish were sentenced for "activities against the crown" (my uncle has copies of the documents) - basically we were rebels, deported for political activities
Never heard the Tsunami Theory before. 65000 years ago Australia and New Guinea were connected by a land bridge. Even outside of that period, sea levels were low enough for small islands to be exposed in the Torres Strait. This made the trip in primitive boats (deliberate or accidental) easier.
Yeah, it sounds a bit daring to expect people to survive being washed out into the sea by a tsunami. I also think its more likely they made trips on rafts or so, and a different geography enabled them to keep going further bit by bit over time. Its not impossible, as some journeys the people made between Pacific islands have shown. Some even say they made it all the way to Chile, so may be it happened in Australia, too.
Yeah the tsunami theory sounds a bit far fetched. 🤔
Infographics is a bit rubbery and click-baity with their scripts
@@TenOrbitalAbsolutely. I've given up on them.
I've never heard the tsunami theory before - sounds like an extreme "possibility" rather than anything plausible. Island hopping (even ignoring "land bridges") are completely plausible.
For many it was the making of them. Once their sentences were over, many made good, some very good. This would never have been the case if they had stayed in Britain.
They should have mentioned that when you served your time you got your 'ticket' and became a free settler. You could even apply to have convicts assigned to your farm or business, if you had one.
Transportation to America lasted 150 years - yes, convicts were slaves and those with life sentences were not released . 150,000 estimated felons were sent. They would die in chains. Transportation to Australia only lasted 80 years, from 1788 until 1856 when due to the Victorian gold rush it was noted people were committing crimes to be transported. England also transported petty criminals often guilty of stealing food as short term convicts to Australia to populate it.
Once Australia was established a ticket of leave ex convict could probably have a wealthier and healthier life in Australia.
All of the old prisons, places in Sydney and Tassie were hand built by convicts. The Rocks in Sydney is a prime example. All of the rock swimming pools in major areas were also carved into the rock my convicts so that the higher ups could swim.
Port Arthur! It’s heartbreaking there!
The harshness of life for convicts is understated many couldn’t get back to their families in England simply because they couldn’t afford it, and many land owners especially in Tassie abused the power they had over the convicts causing many more problems for the colony
The Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of six agricultural labourers from Tolpuddle village in Dorset. They tried to form a union to protest about a cut in their wages and were convicted and transported to Australia. They all survived the journey. There was such a huge outcry about the unjust sentence that the Government pardoned them and they all returned to England.
But remember they only sent the first fleet in 1788 to Australia because Britain had lost the American colonies, where they had been transporting them.
They did NOT loose the Americas at all, they still had Canada and Oregon and other places nearby.
@@HenriHattar what would I know I’m only Australian with a PhD.
nerd @@dan4241
@@dan4241 So contradict me specifically.
@@HenriHattar Cheapest and easiest way of having a workforce to settle a new land, which was undeveloped.
My 6 times great grandmother, Sarah, was sentenced to 7 years in the colonies for stealing 4 linen handkerchieves. She brought her 12 year old daughter with her because there was no one in England who could care for her. After a few years, Sarah was given permission to marry a man named John and they had 3 children, the middle child being named Ann. She married Thomas Kirkman who supposedly pushed her down a flight of stairs, causing her to die from a broken neck. This took place at the oldest pub in Sydney’s history, The Hero Of Waterloo Hotel in Darling Harbour, which is still operational today. Ann apparently walks the corridors at night, causes mischief in the various rooms and often plays the piano in the early hours of the morning.
Wow love those stories thank you 😊
That’s quite a family story!
Sing us a song, you're the piano Ann. ... sorry, I'll see myself out.
@@chezzachezza7325 Thank you. There’s more to it than I’ve posted, but I felt I’d taken up enough space in the comment section.
Yes, great little pub too. Remember hearing about this ghost years ago.
Yes. I know of two who I initially thought were my relatives but it turned out they weren’t. Father and son. Father sent for 14 years, son for 7. When the son’s time was up he went back to England, collected all his relatives from various poor houses and brought them back to Australia to live a better life.
I am 7th generation Australian from convicts on my mother's side...
They did their time of 7 years and became FAMOUS PIONEERS in early days...
Arrested for stealing food to eat...
That's amazing 👏 ive always wondered if your family could stake claims on land or buildings . Everyone making claims for this and that .....why not your forefathers who built the country
@@chezzachezza7325 well said 👏 👍
I am a direct descendant of seven convicts - 2 with the Second Fleet (one on the death ship - Neptune), one with the Third Fleet and the others within the next 20 years. They did it hard, many were sent out for life, never to return, they made this country in the early years along with others who came out, married and settled here. We thank them tremendously.
Kinda odd how they put it, as if free settlers demanded convicts be transported. The First Fleet, the first convoy of colonists, was by far and away mostly convicts. The first census after they landed in 1788 showed 753 convicts and children and 277 free people, which included soldiers and officers.
One thing I didn't hear mentioned was that when the first nation people arrived here, the sea levels were much lower so they walked most of the way. (Don't throw rocks at me if that's not quite right)
It explains an essential difference between Aussie and American culture: from the very beginning of European history, once freed you were judged by what you did and not who you were. Moreso, the sadism of many of the troopers and official meant the status did not equate to respect. Over two centuries later, and we still benefit from this minimal hierarchy - which visitor call our relaxed friendly nature.
Hmm. I'm pretty sure that lower water levels during a different climatic era exposed a land bridge between New Guinea and Australia, and that's how Aboriginal people made the last stage of their very long journey to the land Down Undaaah 🤔
As for transportation, my great-great-great grandmother was sentenced to 7 years and came here with her 2 children in 1833. The journey took 5 months. One daughter died soon after they arrived ☹️ but her older daughter survived and went on to marry a sailor. They had 4 kids ... and several generations later, here I am watching an American watch a video about transportation to Australia 😅
nah, there's no real evidence that backs it up, but they do say there was an ice bridge before the last ice age, there's evidence the water rose, off WA, they found stone art way off the coast, they also have evidence the Egyptians came here at 1 point, they have stories in many parts of Australia, telling of them coming, there's art said to be done by another people, that Aboriginal mob also say were made by these people and the killer evidence, they found Aboriginal artifacts in 1 of the Pharos tombs; along with that, Māori were the ones who told Cook this country existed, they had been coming here thousands of years, so had the people from PNG. the weirdest evidence of Aboriginal story, is that it appears that they entered from the south, pushing north, only recent theory, but it stems from the age of artifacts (cooked grains and other items) that have been found around the country
A sailing vessel actually tooke 8 months. As to the Aboriginals arriving by land bridge, I often chuckle at that thought, I'm sure travel agents did not operate then and the ancestors didn't sit around and one day said.."Hey Y'all, let's go to Australia!" It IS locigal to conclude that they arrived via fishing from New Guinea or parts thereof. The didn't suddenly spring up for the soil!
Australians are so very proud to have convicts in their family tree! Many went on to lead very successful lives once they had served their sentences. The average sentence for transported convicts was seven years. Then they could claim land to farm or work at the job they did before being transported.
Most convicts had little chance of going back after their terms ended unless you made enough coin for a passage back it was essentially a life sentence getting sent here.
@@matthewcharles5867 - they usually didn’t want to go back because the opportunities were better staying in Australia.
@@annieclaire2348 also you had to get a actual pardon to go back. A ticket of leave meant legally you had to stay in the colony.
During the times that the ancestors of today's Aboriginal people travelled to Australia, there were Ice Ages that caused sea levels to be significantly lower than today. A large part of Indonesia, parts of the Philippines and what is now the South China Sea were connected by land to Malaysia in an area known as Sunda. Australia and New Guinea were connected by land (and to a number of east Indonesian islands. There were only a few deepwater straits that had to be crossed, which was achievable on primitive rafts/canoes. In most instances they never would have been out of sight of land as the gaps between the islands were much smaller than they are today.
Some Aboriginal peoples show links to ancient South East Asian populations, and the most recent arrivals (prior of Makassan traders and European explorers appear to be peoples of South Asian (indian sub-continent) background, who arrived approximately 5,000 years ago and who appeared to have brought the ancestors of dingoes with them.
It was the same method, in a later Ice Age that the ancestors Native Americans arrived from modern Russia, and a process that has been repeated many times through human History.
I visited Port Arthur, shocking place. They landed there and made thebprisobers built it from scratch.
Also happened in Western Australia - convicts had to build their own "barracks" (Fremantle Prison), convict hiring depots, etc., etc. Clearing land, building infrastructure and providing very cheap labour for farmers, etc., is exactly why they were sent here.
@@heatherharvey3129 except in Port Arthur they sent the bad ones they wouldn't trust with settlers.
@@amandarose4469 That has been shown to be untrue in that after the first couple of years of convicts arriving in Western Australia, the "condition" that no convict transported for a serious offence was ignored, with even murderers and rapists arriving in the colony, leading to many complaints from settlers about personal security. The 3rd condition, that of no political prisoners, was also ignored. The only condition that was followed for the entirety of convict transportation to Western Australia was that of "no female prisoners".
Make no mistake, Australia became, “The Lucky Country” [sic], through a huge trial by fire, and a hell of a lotta endurance and hard work.
Yeah, nah it was because it was a largely homogeneous low population country rich in minerals which fund the exorbitant bloated living standards for centuries until they import enough Indians and Somalis to inevitably drag it down in an another decade in an attempt to double down on boomer house prices and supaa .
Life in Australia was better than in England. At least in Australia you had the opportunity to make a decent life for yourself rather than living in poverty or prison in England. Francis Greenway was transported to Australia for forgery. He became Australia's first architect and some of his government buildings are still in existence today. If convicts behaved themselves and proved to be industrious, they could receive time off to work for themselves and earn an income and could even receive a pardon. Many became landowners and farmers, something they could never do in England. When it became obvious to the British Government that transportation to Australia was becoming more of a reward than a punishment they ended it, especially when gold was discovered in New South Wales in 1850.
They didn't realise they were sending us to the promise land 😂
I agree, a lot of people in England thought it was hell but it was a promised land
You might be interested in finding out about the Rum Corp. In the beginning, the soldiers or guards of the convicts were paid with rum. Apparently cash was in short supply.
The conditions in Tasmania which was a punishment prison was terrible. Violence and brutality was horrifying
American history has been glossed over concerning that convicts used to be sent there before they ever were sent to Australia. American history is portrayed that it was settled by free colonists who wanted a new start in life and freedom of religion, and this is true for many, but the convict side of things is generally covered up and not spoken of. Some Americans are derisive and mocking about the convict foundation of English settlement in Australia, but miss the fact that America has the same kind of history, and also miss the fact that Australians wear their convict ancestry as a badge of honor because they were transported often for petty crimes, and also that Australians have achieved so much in over 200 years when the odds were so stacked against them. To mock an Australian about a supposed convict ancestry is to move very rapidly from being called 'mate' to being called 'sport' to [worst of all] 'sunshine'. Fast feet are usually best applied at this stage.
My 5x great grandfather was transported for supposedly stealing tea from his employer who owed him wages. He was eventually pardoned and married in the colony, lived to be 90.
Singing one of the Irish rebellion songs would get you 50 lashes if the overseers caught you. And if you were on the chain gang and still causing trouble you could have a second set of leg irons put on just to make any movement just a bit harder.
A few years back I worked on my family tree and managed to trace back every line to UK, my ancestors all came to Australia before 1830 on boats, many of them were convicts and of those who were over 1/3rd of them travelled on the 2nd fleet. (Look up the second fleet if you want to know more) Some examples of reasons why they were sent over there from the records include: stealing a hairtie, borrowing the neighbours ladder and not returning it the next day despite it leaning up outside the front of his house, having relations with the king and being in the store with a friend who had happened to steal something.
Here's some Australian Prisons for you to check out 😉
1. Goulburn Supermax
2. Pentridge Prison
3. Long Bay Correctional Centre
4. Port Phillip Prison
5. Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre
6. Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre
7. Borallon Correctional Centre
8. Risdon Prison Complex in Tasmania
9. Acacia Prison
10. Parklea Correctional
11. Lithgow
12. Bathurst
13. Broome Regional Prison
I have 2 convict ancestors. One in particular did very well. By the time he died aged in his 90s, he and his descendants owned 4 large cattle properties in south-west Queensland which included thousands of head of cattle. Back in England he had been an illiterate farm labourer who would probably have died as a landless poor worker had he not been sent to the otherside of the world for the crime of stealing a pheasant.
"For the term of his natural life" and "Fatal Shore". Historical fiction. But based on actual history of convict Australia.
Are you telling Paul-keys again mate? 😅🤣(sorry. You've probably heard that 1000x)😀
Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore is non-fiction.
My ancestor came out as a convict but he was released on arrival being a teacher because there was a black of teachers and he started Sydney Grammar and it is still going to this day
I love how you are going through and doing videos on Australia's History as it is very interesting to watch and see the reactions from people who may not know about Australia's past☺
I studied Colonial Australia history at Uni. One thing i was amazed by was that the British government did provide good nutritious a quality food for the crew and convicts, as well as medical doctors on board. 10% death rate was about right given the conditions, but it could've been a lot worse.
Hi Ryan, I think there are quite a few errors in the source video, entertaining as it is. There is no way Aborigines were washed up onto Australia by a tsunami. As I understand it, the sea level was much lower tens of thousands of years ago and it is likely that there were land bridges linking Australia and Asia via Indonesia. I think the harsh climate, aridity, poor soil and isolation were the main deterrents to settlement, rather than "murder beasts". There were no "traders" or "plantation owners" that required cheap/free labour before penal colonies were established. They didn't call the armada taking convicts to Australia the First Fleet for nothing. I think the video downplays the attractiveness of new colonies to other parts of Europe. France sent expeditions to Australia and the Pacific and the British were worried that the French might settle Australia first and this was an incentive to get on with it. There was a French ship in Botany Bay when the First Fleet arrived. Never heard of a convict being transported for "habitual tardiness at work". This seems unlikely.
I think 'habitual tardiness at work' would be an old fashioned version of hateing on 'dole bludgers' and 'bring back national service' and 'make them work for the dole'. They did used to have 'poorhouses', and the 'the womens factory' because no centrelink or pensions. .... Ryan and others need to find genuine Aussie videos to react to instead of foreign click bait cringe. 😎👍... even better youtube could push more Aussie content.
I think the French ship arrived just 4 days after the First Fleet. The ship, with explorer La Perouse aboard, required repairs and was assisted by the British sailors before departing, never to be seen again. However the land area, where the French ship was berthed became the Sydney suburb of La Perouse.
The French ship was captained by Baudin. It met up with Matthew Flinders but vanished after it set sail for France. Also,I'm not sure how Queen Victoria got into the discussion, maybe I just read it incorrectly, but when the First Fleet came, it was George 3rd on the throne.
I had the feeling the video was a bit sensationalist, even though I haven’t watched that channel’s videos before.
There was a second attempt on french takeover in 1814 during Napoleonic wars. That was 2 french warships to meet 2 American warships and take Sydney by force after stirring up the convicts. It failed when the Americans didnt arrive so the french who had arrived,had to cancel plans and pretend they were there for other reasons.
"Australian history is .. picturesque; It does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies & all of a fresh new sort, no mouldy old stale ones. Full of surprises, & adventures, & incongruities & contradictions, and incredibilities; but they are all true!" Mart Twain ( An American)
I know right…..the stolen generation…….so beautiful……..😳 just to be clear, Australian history is not beautiful….not beautiful at all!
There is a widespread ironic chuckle over convicts being "Australian Royalty", but it was also a very serious and grim situation. Another youtuber from Europe once made the perceptive statement that there seems to be an undercurrent of brutality in our culture. It's true, and it comes from this history of punishment and slavery, of living through harsh conditions and being lucky to just survive. This leads to a very pragmatic approach to life and little tolerance for romanticism, ideology, or BS. Most of my antecendents were free settlers. One of them came out from Scotland on a ship ravaged by typhoid. She lost her husband, brother-in-law and two children. She met a convict and had a number of children with him and when his wife in England finally died he married her. They were in their 70s by then. Their grandson became a sporting celebrity, a founding member of the Australia Olympic Federation and a member of the IOC. So you know, it wasn't all bad. It was just very f-ing tough.
They where lower then slaves.. You had to actually purchase slaves.. But these guys where provided by the government for free.. As you may already know people take more care of things that had to pay for then things they get for nothing.. If you break a slave you have to fork out money to buy another one.. If you break a convict the government would send you a new one fresh from the ships for free..
A lot of escaped convicts turned into bushrangers. Those are our version of cowboys who basically try their luck in the wilderness and become outlaws. A lot them were Irish so they become nomad poets and song writers.
And a few starved.
Look into the aboriginal communities and how they were affected by the colonists Ryan, very interesting and tragic for all concerned.
I have a convict and a British sailor who were married on the voyage over here in my ancestry.
We European descended Aussies have been here variously since late 1700s. However our indigenous peoples came in multiple waves starting at least 65,000 years ago, until the post iceage melt searise caused the inundation of Sahul.. what was then the landbridge between Aust and New Guinea.. seperating the two continents. Apparently this was about 45,000 yrs ago. A lot of the intervening islands at one time were just close enough for some brave souls to paddle. The dingo arrived from India about 10,000 years ago. Theres a sort of stellar observatory in NSW thats essentially rocks lined up.. 1000s of years old.. and 'fossilised' footprints well over ten thousand years old.
I’m Australian and my 6x great-grandfather Jonathan was sentenced to death, but the ruling was changed to life in the Australias. His crime was trying to steal six sheep, and as a convict in Australia, he became a Shepard.
After his time was done, he stayed in Australia and ended up marrying an Aboriginal woman (The couple needed to obtain a special authorization from the monarch (the king) in order to be able to get married).
They actually had to build EVERYTHING, there was nothing here, the British used the convicts to build all the infrastructure. The convicts lived in appalling conditions and were treated worse than animals. Some of these convicts were only children, who would NEVER see their families again. If you ever come here please visit Port Arthur in Tasmania, Norfolk Island off NSW. The only State to never have convicts is South Australia. The British soldiers were violent and cruel, the convicts laid the foundation for this amazing country which we are lucky to live in today. 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺❤️❤️❤️
The reason toilet paper rolls over the top is because Huntsman Spiders live behind bark, thus, any spiders will fall to the floor. If the paper comes from under, the Huntsman drops on your hand. I suppose it’s the same for every country.
Australia had Slaves too. The Islands were raided for strong workers to work for six shillings a year, which was never paid but none were taken back to their island. Kanackers. Because they cut cane (sugar) for Britain and Europe markets. Queensland was not the State to be, until tourist became the future.
Thanks Wassa
Australian Jail, you must check out Port Arthur, Tasmania! What happened? Most of old Sydney and Tasmania still has it's convict built history! It was Terra "Australis" Incognita! The Dutch actually claimed WA and Tasmania in the early 1600s! No, Aboriginals migrated from Africa, India, Indonesia, New Guinea via a land bridge! Transportation, the jail's and prison hulks are full! 😩 The starving Irish migrants, the homeless, jobless, women, children, orphans, deserters, debtors, traitors, the lords, the unwanted or just inconvenient were sent to Australia! New babies were born on or after the voyage! 🤨 Very few returned to England, because of the ongoing trauma and cost! Slave Labour included working in leg chains, women's workhouses, child labour, no defense or rights, horrifying prisons! 🤔
80,000 !, years ago - the planets' landmass looked very different - the tip of Australia ( Cape York Peninsula ), was joined to Papua New Guinea and it in turn was connected to landmasses around it as well as the NT. So there was probably many land bridges to WALK into Australia, which technically was therefore part of a bigger thing 😅
Their pet dogs came with them and over 80,000 years, they grew across Australia and evolved into the current day Native Aboriginals and their dogs are called dingoes. Ocean levels rose, forming Australia and cutting off the land bridges.
The PNG-Oz continent is now referred to as "Sahul".
Most of the Australian convicts we're a part of a rebellion in the UK . With 40.000, we're Irish alone. A total 164.000 we're sent for just over 100 years 1788 to 1864 until the Australia colony government signed for no more. As the majority of the Australian settlers came during the gold rush from the 1840s onwards. Convicts only made up 2% of the general population. Some of them were never released from jail. And the worst convicts were actually sent to Norfolk island..
Also to Moreton Bay (Brisbane) & Port Arthur. They kept getting full. Or worse?
Hideous places, all of them.
More political prisoners than "criminals"
@@donnabarns5327 true. Except the worst ones. Even some of them were probably political rather than uncontrollably violent, the official reason.
South Australia was a "Free State". For the first 10 years you couldnt come here even if you had been "freed".. After that the rules were changed.. But we had the first Library in Australia and the SECOND place in the WORLD to give women the vote (NZ was first!)
2:35, when the First Nations came, it was a land bridge from Indonesia to Australia (yes, seriously, it was that long ago)
For much of its history Australia was joined to New Guinea, forming a landmass called Sahul. These countries were finally separated by rising sea levels about 8,000 years ago.
Remember, there was NOTHING there - no buildings (Aboriginals were Nomads, their Shelters "Wurly Wurlys" just tree branches/leaves propped at base of Trees). No reliable fresh water sources - the Aboriginals knew how to source water from certain Plants etc., & healing properties from same. Living under Canvas, limited livestock as there were NO domestic type animals, I believe not even wild Pigs, NO Rabbits or Foxes...as these Sailing Boats were SMALL, 1 or 2 Cows/Sheep, Chickens all had to share space with the Humans. No Sanitation, at the Mercy of The Wind.
England transported an estimated 50,000 to 120,000 convicts and political prisoners, as well as prisoners of war from Scotland and Ireland, to its overseas colonies in the Americas from the 1610s until early in the American Revolution in 1776, when transportation to America was temporarily suspended by the Criminal Law .
Resource : Wikipedia
My Great Grandfather was transported to Australia. He worked hard and owned three properties (2 farms) which he sold and returned to England.
Some convicts were what we would consider criminals but the vast majority were victims of extreme poverty at a time with no social welfare. Slavery is the wrong term, they were prisoners who had to work. After 5 years 85% were freed and given land to farm and they were the unskilled ones whereas the skilled were virtually free from the day they arrived. Francis Greenway was a architect and forger transported for 14 years who designed many buildings that are still around in Sydney today and was so important that he was put on our $10 bill hence he is the only forger who is on a banknote. The bad (real) criminals were sent to Tasmania and worse again to Norfolk Island and it is there that treatment was nasty in the extreme. Noteworthy is the fact that children of convicts had the lowest record of recidivism compared to children of free settlers and prison guards.
I am descended from convicts on both branches of my family. I'm very proud of my convict heritage and not one of them killed anyone.
The main reason for sending them to Australia was that England was in dire straits and people were dying of starvation! Many free settlers were also paid to come because there wasn't enough food in England to feed them. Those who had been starving in England soon discovered that their way of life in Australia was much better than what they had left behind ❤
This guy got a lot of his facts wrong.
The first trip took one year and within five months the trip was taking 3 months.
Most Convicts were given food and a home to live in (not that it was a wonderful house).plus other provisions. They could marry and have children and most weren't confined to barracks. They were prisoners with a certain amount of freedom. The more children they had, the better off they were in many cases.
There were those who rebelled against the system and it was much harder for them.
Yes, they could be considered slaves, but they were actually prisoners with freedoms. I don't think they could be compared with the slaves in the United States as, once they had served their time, they were free. They weren't bought by others, they were free to live their lives once they had completed the sentence!
Most Convicts weren't dangerous and once their time was finished they could even have their own businesses. My 6 x Great grandfather was a whitesmith and ship builder who was in partnership with his oldest son who was born in 1797 in Australia.
Very few decided to return to England!
Maybe someone who knew what they were talking about would be more accurate! 😂
They were not slaves as in the same vein as American slaves, they were prisoners transported to Australia from Britain to serve the time for crimes they committed. They were after the time they were given set free to go back to Britain or make a life for themselves in Australia. Those that did stay in Australia all seemed to be successful in their lives. Unlike the American slaves from Africa who were bought and sold as property. American Slaves, British prisoners. America uses it's prisoners in a similar manner back the and even today I believe!
Romantisied rubbish not all or most went on to being rich settlers. And had similar treatment to American slaves. Yes they did manage to become free though.
The Dutch discovered the west coast of Australia in the early 1600's. Dirk Hartog was one of the explorers. Rottnest island was named by the dutch.
They called Oz Hollandia or New Holland but never claimed or settled the land.
One case in the first fleet was a inn owner was sent to Australia for adding water to the beer, His wife came to Australia as a free person in the first fleet. She opened the first inn in Australia and made the first Australian beer, he was given to her as a worker for the 7 years. When you look at the family tree, I think he was the first sex slave in Australia because the 1st child took only 14 months to turn up.
No, they didn't pick you up after seven years. Any prisoner that was already sentenced to seven years in jail or more was allowed to be transported. Nobody took you back.
The convicts in Australia were used to build the prisons to hold criminals. Check out the old penal colony of port Arthur in Tasmania, beautiful but eerie. Convicts also built the round house(JAIL) in Fremantle plus the Fremantle prison both still standing strong. Convicts helped to build this country just as much as the settlers did.
This has some interesting facts, but a few are highly questionable. Like the tsunami..they would have drowned before they got here!
We were taught in school that many thousands of years ago Australia was actually attached to Asia and the people walked around the land. When the plates shifted and we were cast off and became an island continent the people were still living in the land. These of course are the indigenous peoples.
My great, great…grandfather was sent to Australia for 7 years for the crime of stealing a ladies handkerchief and apron from her clothesline. It was a setup as he was a young single man who was a builder and he had shipbuilding experience. They wanted a ship builder to go out to Norfolk Island because they thought the Norfolk Island palm trees would be perfect for ships masts. They were wrong about that and so my ancestor served his 7 years on Norfolk Island farming and feeding the people in Sydney town because the crops didn’t take at first in the new colony. My ancestor became the master builder on Norfolk Island and after his 7 years he went back to Sydney where he was known for his building works. He got married on Norfolk Island and had a whole bunch of kids. He had twin daughters who were killed in a tragic accident when a tree fell on their house and they are buried on Norfolk Island. There is a plaque marking the burial site for them.
I dont bellieve that to be true. As Im aware aboriginal australia was born from migration from the islands north of us after the split. Their dna has 3 -5% denisovian dna. This is explained by interbreeding of eastern Eurasian Denisovans with the modern human ancestors of these populations as they migrated towards Australia and Papua New Guinea. Australia wasnt isolated from the rest of the word.
Australia became isolated from Asia when the end of the last ice age caused the seas and oceans rose.
The last ICE AGE was 26,000 to 19,000 years ago.
The continental plates shifted millions of years ago before humans even existed. We were connected to the continent of Asia during the ice ages when the seas and oceans were much lower than today. When the ice ages ended the seas and oceans rose cutting us off From Asia.
How can they be indigenous when they came from elsehwere?
Despite what they say about not sending any murderers; 2% of convicts were transported for murders, serious assaults etc. which is over 3000 people.
When global sea levels were lower, there were land spits between current islands.
New Guinea was connected to northern Australia. Also, they could have use rafts or canoe type vessels.
There were no "plantations" for the convicts to work as "slave" labor. When the first few fleets arrived they rocked up on a barren land - no prison buildings, no farms, no roads, no houses, nothing. There were very few skilled tradesmen amongst the convicts and guards and nobody that could farm the tough infertile land. For the first few decades it was pretty much a huge muttonbird colony that kept the penal settlements (that had to be built from scratch by the convicts) from being starved out of existence. The USA in modern times has 20% of the world's prison population and it's used as cheap labour to manufacture a variety of products. Convicts doing hard yakka is time immemorial and not exclusive to the British Empire.
i have convicts on both my mothers and fathers side the one on my mothers side stole a pair of shoes. the one on my fathers side was a 15yo 5'2 irish boy that worked as a grocers boy and stole a vegetable. both got 11yrs hard labour pardoned at 7yrs never allowed to return to britain.
the amount of work the chain gangs did is phenomenal, and their treatment was brutal. you look on the old north road out of sydney and you'll find holes carved on the edge of the cliffs where they hung convicts that didn't work fast enough or talked back.
The prisoners from England to Australia were not slaves...the were "prisoners" who were reformed by hard labor and then had the opportunity to live out good lives in a free based society. Many of them actually entered into "indentured Service" as a means of supporting themselves after freedom was granted!
If you keep doing videos about Australia, you will wake up singing out "Austie Austie Austie Oi Oi Oi"!!!!
I know I do!!!
I have 4 convict ancestors of who I have researched fully. It was a harsh life. Of my 4 convict ancestors, 3 were men one was a woman. Guess which one of the four did not get the lash ? Yep, the woman. All of them received additional charges while convicts, such as stealing food etc and you got the lash for it. They were all sent to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania).
Of the 4, one was sentenced to death for stealing a sheep (changed to life transportation), one was sentenced to 14 years for stealing bread and cheese, another sentenced to death for burglary (changed to life transportation) and the female got 7 years for theft (pickpocket).
The one who stole a sheep who is my 5 x great grandfather was employed as a Shepard (what an irony for him) at the property of a very wealthy colonist and that property still stands today and is owned by the National Trust. He became an overseer and got leave for his life sentence after 20 years, his son from England came out and worked there as well and I have 4 generations of family at that property. The first time I went there and told them who my ancestor was they literally rolled out the red carpet and turned me in to a celebrity :)
One of my ancestors was on the first fleet for stealing bread. We have a copy of the ship log with her signature on it and it says reason “theft of bread”
My family has traced our ancestry back to the first fleet, and our ancestor Sarah was a convict who married a major from the boat called John once she was granted her ticket of leave. They believe they may even have fallen in love on the boat on the way over.
I come from convicts couldn't be prouder of them. I live in a beautiful country because they made the trip here and made this place the best place in the world to live. Oh and the crime was highway robbery sentenced to 8 years hard labour and never to return to England.
My ancestor got sent here for being an Irish rebel- when he got here in 1831 because he had cattle driving skills, he was called a convict slave and helped drive the first cattle to Victoria. In return they gave him a farm and freed him- ( a farm that’s now one of the poshest suburbs in Melbourne city but his son sold it and moved to the country.
But his father had done well and was at one time one of the richest men in Melbourne (port Phillip then ) society. (His son hated that shit)
Anyways- he certainly was doing a lot better than he would have been in Ireland- I’ve seen copies of his letters he would send home to Ireland sending money and telling people to come out. There were no taxes on the land ( which was a major issue in Ireland with landlords )
So he paid for quite a few people to come out here.
But I must acknowledge the land he was given was inhabited most likely by indigenous people. It was riverfront - I’ve tried to find info about this but unfortunately I have no idea how he treated those people.
I have a convict in my ancestors. The rest were free settlers. The convict was a sad story. Young lad, a jewelers apprentice who stole some watch parts.
Another reason people didn't return after their sentence was served was that they had to pay for their passage back to England, which was prohibitively expensive.
It's been gussied up, but "For The Term Of His Natural Life" is a decent dramatisation of the convict days
The first constructed building in western australia was a prison 🤔. Huge structure built out of limestone by the convicts themselves. It became the fremantle prison and the city perth was built around it. Fremantle prison is now world heritage listed which is kind of funny cause when it was clozed down in 1993 it was suppose to be knock down to make way for a shopping mall 😏🤣
the tsunami theory is so bogus 😂
kina misleading, there were no plantations and very few free colonists. Botany Bay was essentially an open air prison camp where the military put the prisoners building communal farms so everyone can eat, want to escape? fine, go into he interior and stave or get shot because your not managing an 8 month trip home on some canoe. As time went on and prisoners earned their freedom, private land grants made land ownership possible and they slipped into an indentured servitude model, like Barbados before slavery
Not Botany Bay, Capt Phillips didn't like it there, no water etc, so moved the ships to Port Jackson, now Sydney.
It wasn't a holiday for any of them remember there wasn't any buildings or roads and they were sent out for little as a loaf a bread
Ryan I do hope that you haven't had first hand experience of prison life in Indiana. Having said that, I was disappointedthat our family has no record of any convict connections in Australia. Instead, our family's arrival in Australia was brought about by the call for free settlers and my great great... whatever answered this call because of the difficult conditions in rural England in the late 1830's.They arrived in Australia in 1838, working on different agricultural properties. It wasn't easy. One of the landowners wrote to her godmother "You often see snakes pushing their heads through the slabs and sometimes they get into your bed." Australia has always had its challenges, but I am so glad that my family took a huge risk and came to this great country.
Around the 1960’s or earlier, the British government use to send orphaned young children to Australia, with no family. Families were broken up and babies were kept in England but old enough children were sent. Some didn’t do well on the long ship voyages and life in Australia wasn’t kind.
Convicts were allowed to marry, raise families and get jobs, and those whose families had been left behind back in Great Britain were allowed to have them brought to Australia at the expense of the government. The intention was that these people should become valuable members of society rather than languishing in prison (something the U.S. could learn from these days!). My great-great-great-grandmother was a Scottish convict transported to Hobart in 1828. She married in 1832 and my great-great-grandfather was born in 1834. Seems like a much better life than she would have had back in the old country, in or out of prison.
My ancestors were sent over in the colony for transport . My great,great,great,great , great, grandfather was a baker in England and one of his mates brought a pheasant in for my relation to bake him a pheasant pie, and he could bake one for himself for doing it. He was not told that his mate who poached the pheasant from some lord or wealthy land owner over there . To cut a long story short he was sent to Australia as a convict and when he got to Sydney he ended up being Govenor Phillips personal baker till he finished his time and then was granted land in molong NSW and settled there and had a family but was never able to get back to England so that was a stolen life from England. So I'm very proud of our convict heritage for what the crime was it was a severe punishment but on the other hand I think the end of the day all Australians are the winners compared to England better weather not over crowded great beaches . Yep if only England knew of what this place was like I'd think they would have changed places. But their loss is our gain. And the cat of nine tails was a leather stranded whip with lead in the ends of the leather so that when you got whipped it would lacerate your back and get infected it was a extreme and brutal punishment. If you want to catch up on more Aussie history look up port Arthur van Diemen's land colonial prison that will give you a better idea of how this all got started and then finished. We had some pretty evil prisoners here from England, there was one bloke who escaped from there and he was with a half a dozen escapees that did a runner and the dude was a carnival he ended up eating his prison buddies😂😂😂😂 then you had Norfolk island as well that was a colony and had prisoners there to build it up, slave labour. Anyways Ryan if you want to check that out or if you don't mate up to you buddy. I'll be waiting for you to do another vid 👍😎😊🇭🇲🦘
Ummm. I don't think that migration story is correct. Back when the migration happened the whole area of Australia was connected as one giant landmass to PNG and Malaysia. That was my understanding, which makes more sense why they could move so freely. Not by some tsunami b.s
That Tsunami assertion (not even a theory) is wild and the first time I e heard it. There was a land bridge and between a bit of paddling and more walking they would have got here. After all, it’s all downhill (joke).
Ryan, if you look at a world map to get to Australia by ship from England meant effectively going south and around the bottom of Africa, rather than South America, because of the Roaring 40's (trade winds that predominantly travel west to east). No Suez or Panama... no wonder it was 6-8 months.
Pretty sure first Australians arrived when it was a joined land mass with New Guinea etc. Makes sense if see levels were lower and people just traveled and then sea level rises and they now live on an island.
My 3X Great Grandfather Jacob found himself in August 1821 embarked on the convict transport Isabella bound for Sydney Cove from Cork.... He had a life sentence, and though the original trial records in Ireland were destroyed in a fire in the 1920s other records indicate he stole a horse. Once here in Sydney after a year or so he got permission from the Governor. Thomas Brisbane, to bring his family out from County Cavan, and they arrived on the Thames as free settlers in 1826. Except his wife died at Sydney after the voyage via Cape Horn. I am descended from his son William, born in Cootehill County Cavan in 1812 and dying in the 1890s. William's grandson Thomas who died in 1948 is my grandfather. I am 81 this year and I remember Thomas, and Thomas's sister Annie who died at the age of 102. In the 1970s she told me she recalled sitting on the knee of William, the convict's son -- but she failed to mention anything about convicts! It was not until the 1980s that people began to vslue convict ancestry. Jacob, the convict, received a conditional pardon in 1834 and the last record of him is in the 1841 census where he is listed as living in what is now the Sydney CBD as a gardener growing strawberries. He did serve briefly in an iron gang on roadworks early in his sentence, but generally seems to have done pretty well.
Many Australians still have convict ancestry. There are four in my family. One woman was transported for seven years for “petty theft@.
There's a traditional Irish song called The Fields of Athenry, it speaks of an Irishman who steals corn from an English nobleman to feed his children and he was caught and shipped off to Australia for it. It's a sad song told from his and his wife's point of view.
There is a town in Tasmania that has a row of pavers each with a convicts name, crime and sentence and there is things like stealing a ribbon and getting 9 years for it. Imagine that. The guy probably just wanted to make his wife or daughter to feel good
how much of this is true considering this video was made and narateed by an American
All true , didnt pick up anything to suggest otherwise. It doesnt get taught at school anymore unfortunately , they would rather make out these poor people lived a life of luxury .
@@Zed483so you’ve heard the tsunami theory before?
In one history book i read, A Merciless Place, it quoted that the American colonies refused to take any more convicts from England as they were to much trouble. This was pre revolution, the english had fleets of ships floating around the Caribbean for a long time but couldn't off load them. No body wanted convicts on their door step The British even went to the extent of dumping convicts on the east coast of Africa, giving them uniforms and guns under the pretense of an actual attempt at colonising. It didn't go well they either starved, died from disease or were made slaves. The British really didn't know what to do. Joseph Banks came up with the idea eventually to use convicts to colonize Australia.
Dude it was a 6 wk-2.5 month voyage from Europe to Aus after WWII!
My great, great, great grandfather got 14 years stealing one handkerchief. For that , I live at an awesome beach in Queensland 😊
That the Aussie attitude, for getting shafted and still smelling the roses? (A good attitude to life!) NSW in Oz
I believe there was a land bridge (lower sea levels/ice age) allowing what became the aboriginal people of Australia to just walk all the way over there. No need to hop and jump 😆
And even without that, the distances are fairly small if they had the ability to build simple “boats” (which I can easily assume they did 🤷🏻♂️)
PS : I’ll have to lookup the tsunami thing tho. Because I’m mildly baked right now so it just made me giggle 😂
I literally have degrees in Aboriginal Archaeology and History and that is first time I've ever heard that tidal wave theory 🤯 I mean wouldn't they have died being swept into an ocean by a tsunami? I mean huh!!!
it is the most stupid reason i have ever heard - tsunamis dont carry people to foreign lands they kill you instead
Dutch were the first to find Australia long before the English but the Dutch only found the West Coast which they called New Holland but I love the map of Tassie the best the best show about early Aussie life is a show called " Banished " but look up the " Rum Rebellion "
The journey in those days would be the equivalent of going to Mars today.