Discussion Post: The 'Gloria Scott'
May. 22nd, 2016 08:01 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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sherlock60This week, the canon story we’re looking at is The ‘Gloria Scott’, and the chosen topic is Transportation to Australia.
A few facts:
🌏 Transportation was used as a form of punishment from 1717. At this point, British convicts were transported to America. This stopped, naturally, after US Independence. [nationalarchives.gov.uk]
🌏 ...courts were looking for a punishment which was not as extreme as hanging, but tougher than a fine. In the absence of proper prisons, transportation seemed the answer and was used for over a hundred years. [nationalarchives.gov.uk]
🌏 So Australia was used instead of the US: creating a prison colony there would not only solve the problem of where to imprison convicts, but would help to establish another outpost in the growing empire. [historyextra.com]
🌏 The First Fleet departed Britain in May 1787, its 11 ships carrying more than 700 convicts. They arrived in New South Wales… the following year after a voyage of 252 days… [historyextra.com]
🌏 Those who disembarked in New South Wales were set to work for the local authorities or for the free settlers who lived alongside the penal colony. Working long hours and enduring physical punishments, life was often very tough for the convicts. [Wikipedia]
🌏 The convicts… provided labour to build up British colonies overseas. The vast majority of convicts transported (over 80%) were relatively young, able-bodied men. Though children, women and elderly men were transported too.
🌏 Many of the convicts were transported for petty crimes; others were political prisoners. More serious crimes, such as rape and murder, were not transportable offences. [Wikipedia]
🌏 In Australia, a convict who had served part of his time might apply for a ticket of leave [a document of parole], permitting some prescribed freedoms. This enabled some convicts to resume a more normal life, to marry and raise a family, and to contribute to the development of the colony. [Wikipedia]
🌏 At the end of the convict's sentence, seven years in most cases, the convict was issued with a Certificate of Freedom. He was then free to become a settler or to return to England…. After their prison terms were served most stayed in Australia and joined the other settlers… [Wikipedia] There was no set mechanism in place for returning to Britain. The former prisoner would have to make their own way back, if they wanted to return. But it appears a lot of the former convicts saw staying in Australia as a better life.
🌏 Transportation made no difference to the crime rate in Britain—it kept increasing. It also seemed unreasonable to give criminals free passage to Australia when others were paying to go there. Anyway, Australians were agitating to put an end to using their new country as a criminal dump. [nationalarchives.gov.uk]
🌏 Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 162,000 convicts were transported to the various Australian penal colonies by the British government. The last convict ship arrived in Western Australia on 10 January 1868. Thereafter, prisons were used instead of transportation.
Some useful resources:
In a nutshell: Transportation to Australia historyextra.com
Convict material in the National Museum of Australia collection
Transportation Victorian Crime and Punishment
Punishment 1750-1900 nationalarchives.gov.uk
Convicts in Australia Wikipedia
Please feel free to discuss this topic in the comments.
Please also feel free to comment about the canon story itself or any related aspects outside this week’s theme. For example, any reactions, thoughts, theories, fic recs, favourite adaptations of the canon story… Or any other contribution you wish to make. And if you have any suggestions for fic prompts springing from this week's story, please feel free to share those in the comments as well.
A few facts:
🌏 Transportation was used as a form of punishment from 1717. At this point, British convicts were transported to America. This stopped, naturally, after US Independence. [nationalarchives.gov.uk]
🌏 ...courts were looking for a punishment which was not as extreme as hanging, but tougher than a fine. In the absence of proper prisons, transportation seemed the answer and was used for over a hundred years. [nationalarchives.gov.uk]
🌏 So Australia was used instead of the US: creating a prison colony there would not only solve the problem of where to imprison convicts, but would help to establish another outpost in the growing empire. [historyextra.com]
🌏 The First Fleet departed Britain in May 1787, its 11 ships carrying more than 700 convicts. They arrived in New South Wales… the following year after a voyage of 252 days… [historyextra.com]
🌏 Those who disembarked in New South Wales were set to work for the local authorities or for the free settlers who lived alongside the penal colony. Working long hours and enduring physical punishments, life was often very tough for the convicts. [Wikipedia]
🌏 The convicts… provided labour to build up British colonies overseas. The vast majority of convicts transported (over 80%) were relatively young, able-bodied men. Though children, women and elderly men were transported too.
🌏 Many of the convicts were transported for petty crimes; others were political prisoners. More serious crimes, such as rape and murder, were not transportable offences. [Wikipedia]
🌏 In Australia, a convict who had served part of his time might apply for a ticket of leave [a document of parole], permitting some prescribed freedoms. This enabled some convicts to resume a more normal life, to marry and raise a family, and to contribute to the development of the colony. [Wikipedia]
🌏 At the end of the convict's sentence, seven years in most cases, the convict was issued with a Certificate of Freedom. He was then free to become a settler or to return to England…. After their prison terms were served most stayed in Australia and joined the other settlers… [Wikipedia] There was no set mechanism in place for returning to Britain. The former prisoner would have to make their own way back, if they wanted to return. But it appears a lot of the former convicts saw staying in Australia as a better life.
🌏 Transportation made no difference to the crime rate in Britain—it kept increasing. It also seemed unreasonable to give criminals free passage to Australia when others were paying to go there. Anyway, Australians were agitating to put an end to using their new country as a criminal dump. [nationalarchives.gov.uk]
🌏 Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 162,000 convicts were transported to the various Australian penal colonies by the British government. The last convict ship arrived in Western Australia on 10 January 1868. Thereafter, prisons were used instead of transportation.
Some useful resources:
In a nutshell: Transportation to Australia historyextra.com
Convict material in the National Museum of Australia collection
Transportation Victorian Crime and Punishment
Punishment 1750-1900 nationalarchives.gov.uk
Convicts in Australia Wikipedia
Please feel free to discuss this topic in the comments.
Please also feel free to comment about the canon story itself or any related aspects outside this week’s theme. For example, any reactions, thoughts, theories, fic recs, favourite adaptations of the canon story… Or any other contribution you wish to make. And if you have any suggestions for fic prompts springing from this week's story, please feel free to share those in the comments as well.
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