Page 81 - All About History - Issue 11-14

13 May 1787
A total of 11 ships carrying over 1,420 new
colonists, over half of which were convicts, set sail
on a journey to the other side of the world that
would take more than eight months. Their supplies
included a number of animals, including rabbits,
3 June 1787 pigs, horses and sheep… and rats, of course.
Having survived a planned
mutiny that never saw fruition, 18 January 1788
the fleet arrived at the Spanish Having braved the fierce gales
Canary Island of Tenerife that are found below the 40th
to resupply with food and parallel south, the first fleet
water, staying there for one made its way directly across
week. One convict attempted the Indian Ocean to Australia,
to escape but they were 13 October 1787 sighting Van Diemen’s Land
generally well behaved. Despite the punishment for lewd activities, (now Tasmania) along the way
promiscuity was rife aboard the ships, before reaching Botany Bay on
especially where the female convicts were the east coast. It had travelled
allowed to exercise on deck. Undoubtedly, over 24,000 kilometres
some had conceived children by the time (15,000 miles), had lost only
the fleet had reached the southern tip of three per cent of the people it
Africa, to resupply and pick up livestock for was carrying and not a single
the new colony. ship perished en route – an
5 August 1787 extremely successful result.
The journey across the Atlantic
to South America was notably
hot and uncomfortable.
Disease and parasites like lice
and roaches spread, while
water was rationed. As a
result, a number of convicts
died. When the fleet reached
Rio, Admiral Phillip ordered the
ships be thoroughly cleaned.

Watch hut – ostensibly at least – was to reform these convicts
By day the convicts
were supervised by a into new colonists by the end of their sentence and
military guard and other there was even a chance for them to earn their
overseers. At night they
were locked up in small freedom for good behaviour, there was no doubt
wooden huts to ensure they were being punished for their crimes.
they didn’t escape.
Those transported for more serious crimes could
face the death penalty if they were caught escaping,
or at the very least face even harder time as
colonists on Norfolk Island. Neither did those
servants who were assigned to the households
of the free migrants have an easy time of it.
They were at the mercy of their masters
and vulnerable to abuse.
Convicts weren’t completely without
rights, though. The colonial government paid
for their food and clothes, so if a convict’s master
wasn’t feeding or clothing them properly, was
giving them disproportionate physical punishment
or not allowing them enough rest, the convict
could have their complaint heard. If the defendant
was found guilty, the convict could be reassigned to
someone else and their former master or mistress
could lose their right to have convicts work for
them at all in the future.
The female transportees of Botany Bay and Port
Jackson were treated separately from the men – the
Chain gangs 120-strong convict roster on one of the six prison
Working as part of a chain
gang was feared by the ships of the First Fleet was entirely female, for a
convicts. They would be start. When they arrived, they were sent to a prison
shackled in ankle irons or
chains weighing roughly called a ‘female factory’, where they laundered
4.5kg (10lb) and employed in clothes, sewed and spun while they were awaiting Convicts on a ship
the back-breaking work, such bound for Botany Bay
as making new roads. assignment. Many of the women transported to
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