The Arrival of Prisoners at Botany Bay Penal Colony

Illustration

By: Anonymous

Date: January 26, 1788

Source: Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images.

About the Artist: This image is part of the collection at Getty Images, a worldwide provider of visual content materials to such communications groups as advertisers, broadcasters, designers, magazines, new media organizations, newspapers, and producers. The photograph came from Time Life Pictures. The name of the illustrator is not known.

INTRODUCTION

Botany Bay is an inlet of the Tasman Sea in eastern Australia, near the city of Sydney, New South Wales. Near the bay are the facilities for the Kingsford Smith International Airport. Botany Bay National Park and the Towra Point Nature Reserve are also located at Botany Bay. In 1770, the inlet (which was initially called Stingray Bay) was the landing site of British explorer and navigator James Cook (1728–1779) and his ship, the HMS Endeavour. Captain Cook's landing is generally considered the beginning of England's exploration and eventual colonization of Australia. The name Botany Bay was given to the bay in reference to the abundance of plant life (as in botany, the scientific study of plants) that was discovered by Cook's crew.

In 1788, British naval officer Arthur Phillip (1738–1814) captained another English fleet consisting of eleven ships into Botany Bay to establish a penal colony for England and its colonies. Finding a better site north of Botany Bay, and with a French expedition in fast pursuit, Phillip sailed to Sydney Cove (an area now called New South Wales). About 780 prisoners were delivered to the site. Two more fleets of ships with convicts arrived in 1790 and 1791. From 1788 to 1823, the site at New South Wales was officially recognized as an English penal colony. It consisted of convicts (who were called transportees), marines, and wives of the marines. Although never built at Botany Bay, the Australian penal colony at Sydney Cove was popularly referred to as Botany Bay by the people of England.

During this time, Phillip, who was now the colony's governor, established a system where all convicts were worked according to their abilities to help develop the British colony. They worked as carpenters, cattlemen, farmers, nurses, servants, and at other necessary occupations. The prisoners constructed public facilities such as bridges, buildings, hospitals, and roads, and worked at various occupations for free settlers and landowners.

About 162,000 male and female prisoners were sent to Botany Bay between 1788 and 1868, the last year that convicts were sent there. Most prisoners at Botany Bay were from England, Ireland, or Scotland, but some were from other colonies of England such as Canada, India, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and the countries of the Caribbean Sea. Many prisoners were sent to Botany Bay for such crimes as desertion, insubordination and mutiny (in the case of soldiers), and larceny and robbery (for the general population). People convicted of crimes were often sent to Botany Bay in order to reduce the population of England, as a way to deal with increasing poverty, and to purge the country of its most undesirable citizens.

By 1868, the English population of Australia stood at about one million. By this time, the population of the country was large enough so that the island country could sustain itself without the introduction of additional convicts.

PRIMARY SOURCE

THE ARRIVAL OF PRISONERS AT BOTANY BAY PENAL COLONY

See primary source image.

SIGNIFICANCE

The Industrial Revolution began in England in the middle part of the eighteenth century. It greatly strengthened many sectors of the English economy. However, it hurt the rural areas when young workers left to pursue the enormous monetary opportunities available in urban factories. Even the industrializing cities of England did not have enough jobs for all the potential job seekers. For example, between 1750 and 1770, the city of London doubled in population. By the end of the century, England had large numbers of able-bodied but unemployed people concentrated in its largest cities. With this condition growing, crime became an increasing problem in England.

Most historians contend that the English government sent prisoners to Botany Bay as a way to deal with overpopulation, poverty, and an overcrowding prison population in England. The costs of transporting convicts to Australia were considered less than the cost of continuing to deal with them on English soil. Other historians state that convicts were sent to Botany Bay in order to provide the inexpensive labor needed to establish a colony in Australia. A colony in Australia would provide England with a naval base, enhance overseas trade, and provide flax and timber products (which were both important to England's economy).

Due to the lack of equipment and materials sent with the prisoners onboard the ships and the small number of skilled workers (such as bricklayers and carpenters) included among the convicts, it is generally considered that the Botany Bay Penal Colony was established to reduce the unwanted and undesired criminal population from England and its colonies. For whatever reason, removing prisoners from England and its colonies to the remote island of Australia was a good way to solve the growing problem of criminals on English lands.

In the twenty-first century, Australia is the sixth largest nation by area after Russia, Canada, China, the United States, and Brazil, but the smallest continent on Earth. Though it is a large country, Australia has a small population, with just over twenty million residents as of 2005. About ninety-two percent of its citizens live in urban areas such as its largest cities of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Since the last quarter of the eighteenth century when it was first colonized with thousands of English convicts, immigration has been an important contribution for the population of Australia. Since the end of World War II (1939–1945), over six million people from about two hundred countries have arrived in Australia. Some of the countries providing the most immigrants include Canada, China, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, Serbia and Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia), South Africa, and the United States. Over one-fourth of all people in Australia were born outside of the country.

Australia's early history involved receiving many criminals from England and its colonies. Since then the federal government of Australia has evolved into a stable and successful parliamentary democracy, one of the many forms of governments around the world where people live free and are represented by elected government officials. Many of its practices are modeled from English and North American examples of government. Australia's system of government is based on democratic traditions such as religious acceptance and tolerance, freedom of choice, and freedom of association.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Eldershaw, M. Barnard. Phillip of Australia. Sydney, Australia: Augus & Robertson, 1972.

Gillen, Mollie. The Search for John Small: First Fleet. North Sydney, Australia: Library of Australia History, 1985.

Mackay, David. A Place of Exile: European Settlement of New South Wales. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press, 1985.

Molony, John. The Penguin Bicentennial History of Australia: The Story of 200 Years. Ringwood, Victoria, Australia: Penguin Books, 1988.

Periodicals

Abbott, Graham. "The Excepted Cost of the Botany Bay Scheme." Journal of the Royal Historical Society 81 (1995): Part 2.

Web sites

Cameron Riley, Hawkesbury Historical Society. "The 1804 Australian Rebellion and Battle of Vinegar Hill." November 2003. 〈http://www.hawkesburyhistory.org.au/articles/Battle_of_Vinegar.html〉 (accessed June 28, 2006).

The City of Botany Bay. "The History of Botany Bay." 〈http://www.botanybay.nsw.gov.au/city/history.htm〉 (accessed June 28, 2006).

Australian Government Culture and Recreation Portal. "European Discovery and the Colonisation of Australia." 〈http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/australianhistory〉 (accessed June 28, 2006).