Australia - Aspects in Depth

Question 1

Why did the English choose to start a penal colony in Botony Bay?

Answer 1

• Cook’s expedition claimed the land, specifically Botany Bay was ready for the taking (not considering the aboriginal people) and extremely fertile
• Urbanisation created slum poverty and trial by jury meant people weren’t being killed for crimes out of desperation and Australia could be used to transport felons who were overcrowding the Thames and bursting by the late 1780’s aided by the loss of the American colonies
• Banks and Matra said they could grow flax for making sails especially on Norfolk Island
• Government saw the venture as so opportunistic they spent £84,000 to fit the ships
• To prevent French territorial claim

Question 2

How many people were part of Britain’s first colony?

Answer 2

• 1420 people, 732 who were convicts, 14 children born to convict mothers and 300 non convicts

Question 3

How many convicts were part of Britain’s first settlement?

Answer 3

• 732 convicts (543 men, 189 men, 22 children, 11 boys and girls)
• The oldest being 72 and the youngest being 9
• 66% of convicts were under 30 yrs old had been convicted of petty theft
• Majority of women were prostitutes or petty thieves
• There were English, Scots, black and white Americans and Jews

Question 4

How many non convicts were part of Britain’s first settlement?

Answer 4

• 600 people were marines, wives and their families, seamen and civil officers
• The marines, ordered by Robert Ross, refused to do anything but military duties which didn’t exist so Governor Philip relied on seamen and convicts to police and oversee building shelters and maintaining food

Question 5

What does William Bligh do for the colonies?

Answer 5

• Governor 1806-1808
• Was marooned by his crew
• 17 years later, removed as governor by the New South Wales Corps during the Rum rebellions after he attempted to limit the free settlers freedoms. No punishment was given to the rebels

Question 6

What does Thomas Brisbane do for the colonies?

Answer 6

• Governor 1821-25
• A wealthy farming class was formed made up of free born settlers due to him refusing land grants and pardons of the convicts

Question 7

What does George Arthur do for the colonies?

Answer 7

• Governor 1824-36
• Devised punishment and rewards for convicts
• Extended a police state over free settlers and refused convict labour to those he disapproved of
• Closest the British empire ever got to totalitarianism

Question 8

Who recommended landing in Botany Bay and why did it seem an odd choice?

Answer 8

• Joseph Banks, appeared in front of parliament as an expert witness
• It lacked a water supply and was unsuitable for cultivation

Question 9

What were the problems that the settlers faced in Sidney in the first 6 months?

Answer 9

• The livestock brought on the first fleet had been eaten or disappeared
• The soil was too thin in Sidney cove and there was no plough or animal to pull it available
• Lack of mortar and difficulty of making bricks made making shelter hard and the governor Philip was initially under a canvas structure
• The convicts were urban and did not have the required skills to building a colony and had to trade with the aboriginal people for supplies

Question 10

What involvement did the British government have in Australia?

Answer 10

• The government funds the settlement with £70,000
• All supplies of food and clothing were government property
• All flax grown on Norfolk island, which never happened as it was the wrong type of flax, was to be property of the government
• A surveyor was to be appointed to allocate plots of land to convicts who had served their time
• Most of the first fleet marines left for Britain but those who stayed were to be encouraged by the governor and granted land

Question 11

What involvement did the Governor Philip have in Australia?

Answer 11

• Allocated convicts jobs based on the skills they had
• Wattle and Daub dwellings built for convicts and brick mansion built for the governor
• Government farm in Paramatta given grants to 66 people and by 1792 1,000 acres were under public cultivation and 516 under private cultivation
• Had the power to sentence them to death but was quite fair
• Used his powers to buy extra supplies for the colony at the government’s expense

Question 12

What did Philips do to ensure the survival of Britain’s first Australian colony?

Answer 12

• Preparation, death rate was only 3% due to Philip’s preparing for the journey for 6 months instead of departing in December 1786 like Lord Sydney wished
• Establishing a second colony on Norfolk island. 1790, 183 convicts , 28 chiildren and 81 marines were sent to Norfolk island due to the mutton bird being a constant food supply. Also allowed more rations for the people in Sydney cove
• Control of food stores, everyone was given equal rations preventing starvation and riots of those receiving less
• Relocation to better farmland, moved to Rose Hill, 16 miles from Sydney Cove allowing convicts land grants like James Ruse a land grant of 30 acres successfully growing food

Question 13

What supply issues did the colony face?

Answer 13

• The sinking of 2 supply ships, the Guardian and the Sirius

Question 14

What was the lady Juliana and what did it transport?

Answer 14

• A ship which transported letters from home and 222 female convicts in the 2nd fleet on the 3rd of June in 1790

Question 15

How many convicts died and from what?

Answer 15

• The Justinian arrived 2 weeks later than the lady Juliana which carried dying convicts
• A quarter of the transported by the time of landing
• A further 150 died soon after landing
• Combinations of starvation, scurvy, poor sanitation and louse borne diseases
• This was due to the government privately contracting the journey to Camden, Calvert and king instead of captaining the voyage

Question 16

How did the arrival of the second fleet increase the chances of the colonies survival?

Answer 16

• Brought vital supplies such as livestock and crops on the Justinian
• The Atlantic of the third fleet was sent to Calcutta to buy rice

Question 17

How successful was Philip in setting up the first colony?

Answer 17

• Had ensured the survival of the colonies through it’s first five years
• 3,000 people living between Sydney cove and Rose Hill
• Is able to leave for Britain in 1792 and retire in Bath

Question 18

Why were the Irish prisoners considered to be dangerous by the authorities?

Answer 18

• The Irish were Catholic and England were protestants
• Irish had been stereotyped as political dissidents due to the annexation of Ireland even though the majority had been arrested for theft

Question 19

What happens with the Irish prisoners in 1804 and what happened in the future?

Answer 19

• There was a rebellion of Irish people in 1804
• It was put down by the New South Wales guard
• Most of the Irish stay in Australia, many foolishly attempt to swim to China or died in the Australian wilds

Question 20

What were the rum years?

Answer 20

• A period of time where the New South Wales corporation dominated the colony from 1782-1809

Question 21

What two factors under Macquerie ensured economic growth proceeding the rum years?

Answer 21

• British government sent first shipment of sterling coins in 1812 replacing the mishmash of currencies such as IOUs and Rum
• 1815, Napoleonic wars ended meaning 3/4 of prisoners that were sent to the colonies were sent after 1815 providing labour to build public works

Question 22

Why did Macquerie remove the New South Wales Corporation in 1912?

Answer 22

• 1792, they replaced the marines that came on the first colony
• 1808 they mutinied against governor Bligh in the rum rebellion and were replaced in 1909
• They had taken control during the hiatus between Philip’s departure and Hunter’s arrival and maintained until 1809
• They were assigned 10 male and 3 female convicts and took control of the alcohol trade by using their London wages, through IOUs, with Sea Merchants
• Due to the lack of currency this alcohol allowed economic dominance of the colony and alcohol remained dominant until 1812 when currency was introduced
• Could undermine governors due to communication from Sydney to London increasing by free settlers who were retired from the New South Wales Corps

Question 23

How did the government deal with the New South Wales Corps after the Rum Mutiny?

Answer 23

• Removed Bligh from office in 1808 and took over the colony in his absence
• Due to free settlers reports and Bligh’s previous history the rebels were not punished and a bulk were sent for garrison duty in Guernsey
• Macquerie was dispatched to the colony and under his governorship the cartel ceased to exist. Macquerie was confident he controlled all the troops in Sydney

Question 24

What is an emancipist?

Answer 24

• A convict who served his term and became a settlers
• AKA government men

Question 25

Who are the currency?

Answer 25

• A free child born to a convict
• Law abiding, tall and healthy
• AKA the sterling

Question 26

What is an exclusive?

Answer 26

• A free settler and their descendants including members of the NSWC who remained in the colony

Question 27

What impact did the deconstruction of the New South Wales Corps have on the Australian colony?

Answer 27

• The Corps founded the wool trade and expected the government to push their interests
• The Emancipists and the Currency making up the new settlement of the Hawkesbury river didn’t like the monopoly of the Corps and Macquerie sided with the Hawkesbury people more

Question 28

What was Macqueries opinions on the groups forming in the colonies under his reign?

Answer 28

• He limited the power of the exclusives by dismantling the corps
• Sympathetic for the emancipists and the currency by arguing George crossley, an emancipist lawyer, should be able to stand in court
• Emancipist Surgeon William Redfern delivered Macquerie’s baby and Macquerie’s invited 4 emancipists to government house
• Personally greeted each new ship of convicts believing they were people and could be transformed into useful societal cogs
• Punishment was harsh but convicts had the right to a magistrates hearing

Question 29

What was the impact of Macquerie’s paternalistic attitude to convicts and emancipists?

Answer 29

• Most convicts worked hard and took land grants to work in the colony
• Those in New South Wales who were re-offended were sent to Van Diemen’s colony once it was established
• Notorious penal colonies set up in Port Macquerie in 1822 and on Norfolk Island in 1824. The last settlement had been abondoned by 1814

Question 30

What impact did Macquerie have on the colony?

Answer 30

• The colony became less drunken
• Passed a proclamation against cohabitation without benefit of clergy improving women’s economic status as it allowed them to inherit property running them without male control
• For example, Mary Haydock, expanded her husbands shipping company aggressively after her husbands death in 1811
• Macquerie reduced the alcohol consumption through reducing the traffic of spirits and closing public buildings while service was open but could not fix the addiction the colony had to rum

Question 31

What were convict jobs prior to 1810?

Answer 31

Prior to 1810
- Four governors and 1 deputy governors between 1788 and 1810 had first choice of convicts and their needs were paramount until 1810

• , They built roads. erected government buildings and worked on government farms
• Female convicts weaved cloth and as domestic servants
• As the colo

Question 32

What were convict jobs like after 1810?

Answer 32

• Whaling became more popular after the arrival of the third fleet was the most important source of income until the 1830’s
• The colonies didn’t rely on convict labour but on the work of emancipists

Question 33

What were work conditions like for convicts?

Answer 33

• 9 hour days 5 days a week, 5 hour day on Saturdays
• Could sell extra labour to others for unofficial currency, such as rum
• Due to convicts nature they worked slowly and badly and stole which was met with 100 lashings and possibly a hanging which were only delivered after a magistrates hearing.
• Had the right to food, shelter and rum preventing abuses from officers

Question 34

What was treatment of female convicts like?

Answer 34

• NSW colony, women outnumbered 6-1
• 4000 men and 1300 women in the 1805 census
• 6th February 1788, The first women were selected by men and raped and those that weren’t were under the protection of a seaman
• Most women in ‘relationships’ ended with women sailing back home

Question 35

What was domestic servanting like for the women in the colony?

Answer 35

• Usually cohabitation which could result in prosperous relationships
• If not women were left in the government store pregnant
• 1806, the Anglican minister counted 395 wives and 1035 concubines. Although ignoring catholic, Jewish and long term relationships

Question 36

What were specials and what was their role in the colonies?

Answer 36

• Highly skilled convicts who were in high demand in the colonies
• Architect Francis Greenway Used in Macquerie’s erecting of buildings
• Forgers were used to record the growth of the colony
• Convict George Crossley was able to practise law but not plead in court even advising Governor Bligh during the Rum Rebellion
• William Redfern delivered exclusives and convicts babies in the rum hospital

Question 37

What were Macquerie towns and how did they fair?

Answer 37

• Infrastructure improved in the colonies under Macquerie after spending more than London wished
• London paid the wages for the governor and regiments salary
• This made the colony self-sufficient meaning high profit but they wren’t sent back to London as they were reinvested building roads, schools, barracks and churches using the convict architect Francis Greenway developing Sydney into a city
• Macquarie towns grew into Castlereagh, Richmond, Windsor, Pitt Town and Wilburforce in 1810 and 1811 along Hawkesbury river. Each one with a school, a church and an inn
• Rum hospital built in the centre of Sydney with paying for the license of trade with rum to the convict traders
• The economy was boosted through depressions through developing the infrastructure such as the road through the blue moutains to boost the wool industry in the 1820’s

Question 38

What was the initial opinion of the British on the Aboriginal people?

Answer 38

• Captain Cook ignored orders of seizing land with the Aboriginal’s consent
• They did not have any claim to the land
• They were animal like and uncivilised
• This laid the basis for the genocides in Tasmania

Question 39

What were the tensions were there between the Colony and the Eora tribes?

Answer 39

• Eora was made up of 2500 people
• Mutual stealiing escalated to violence and two convicts were killed.
• Philip stoned the convicts in front of the aboriginals to show the fairness of Britain but the Aboriginals didn’t understand
• Tensions were killed by the smallpox epidemic in 1789 killing 50% of the coastal population which killed all but three of the Cadigal tribe)

Question 40

What were the origins of the smallpox epidemic?

Answer 40

• Deliberate biological warfare by the British
• Transmission from the Makassan sailors
  who traded with the Aboriginal population
• Accidental transmission from clothing from the first fleet
• It was a virulent form of chicken pox rather than smallpox

Question 41

What did Philip say about the smallpox epidemic?

Answer 41

• Mystified as no cases were recorded o the journey
• After an investigation and quarantines Philip concluded the source of the outbreak was not the first fleet
• A seaman caught smallpox from the supply but the rest remained immune

Question 42

What happened in the 1790’s?

Answer 42

• Despite Philip and Macquerie’s peaceful policy, shown through Philip’s forgiveness after being hit by a spear, punitive expeditions to attack aboriginals were sent out
• Punitive expeditions and denial to fishing grounds forced the aboriginals to move in land destroying their community

Question 43

What is the black war?

Answer 43

• A period of conflict fought between convicts and aboriginals in the 1820’s Tasmania

Question 44

What happened to the Aboriginal people in Van Diemen’s land?

Answer 44

• STDs common amongst aboriginals brought by whalers in 1803 when the formal colony was established
• Tasmania was cleared to make way for wool farms, with the aboriginal population being starved, hunted and poisoned.
• Settler violence was not monitored by authorities and governor Arthur declared martial law in 1903 in order to place the aboriginals in settled districts such as Bruny island for their protection

Question 45

How did starvation in Tasmania lead to aboriginal extinction?

Answer 45

• 3000-4000 aboriginal people in Van Diemen’s land initially
• Starvation in the first few years meant arming uncontrollable convicts to hunt kangaroos which were used to kill aboriginals due to racist attitudes
• This didn’t happen in New South Wales due to a focus on discipline

Question 46

How did an increase in farming lead to aboriginal extinction?

Answer 46

• 1804, free settlers began moving to Tasmania introducing Merino Sheep in 1821
• 1827, 436,000 sheep, roughly with some breeders getting 3 lambings twice a year
• Early governors, Collins, Davey and Sorell prohibited violence against aboriginals but an increase of a white population began retaliatory raids reducing aboriginal food supplies
• This forced governor Arthur to restrict aboriginals to the north eastern corner of the island but they couldn’t read so martial law was passed on the 1st November 1828 to force relocation which failed when the last Tasmanian aboriginal died in 1876