1833 年:一年内有近 7,000 人抵达澳大利亚,囚犯运送到澳大利亚达到顶峰
1788 年至 1868 年间,超过 162,000 名罪犯被运送到澳大利亚。其中,仅在 1833 年就有大约 7,000 人抵达。
这些罪犯被运送作为对在英国和爱尔兰犯下的罪行的惩罚。在澳大利亚,他们的生活很艰难,因为他们帮助建立了这个年轻的殖民地。当他们服完刑期后,大多数人留下来,有些人成为成功的定居者。
1794 年 7 月 29 日,悉尼理查德·约翰逊牧师的来信:
许多任期届满的人已经变成了定居者,其中一些人过得很好,比英格兰的许多农民都要好。
从17世纪初开始,运输作为一种刑事处罚形式出现在英国法律体系中,作为处决的替代方案。
许多今天被视为轻罪的罪行可判处绞刑,当时有225项已确定的死罪。
在18世纪,美洲殖民地是囚犯运输的主要目的地,围绕这一过程发展了蓬勃发展的业务。
英国商人从当地治安官那里获得了运输合同。他们选择他们想要的罪犯(通常根据他们的工作能力),一旦运输船到达殖民地,就出售囚犯在服刑期间的劳动力。
在1717年之前,运输背后的法律程序是模糊的,因为运输本身不是一句话,而是可以通过间接方式组织起来的。
1717年的《交通法》简化了这一程序并使之合法化:犯有死罪但被国王减刑的罪犯将获得14年的运输,而那些被判犯有非死罪的人将获得7年监禁。在刑期结束前返回英国本身就是死罪。
该法案使运输更加简单,并增加了运送到美国的罪犯人数。到 1775 年,已经运送了 50,000 多名罪犯。这些罪犯在后来的美利坚合众国的早期发展中发挥了重要作用。
但是,随着美国独立战争,美国殖民地作为流放地的非官方功能戛然而止。独立后,美国停止接受来自英国的罪犯。
从1776年到1788年,来自英国的运输停止了,迅速增长的监狱人口被安置在停泊在河流和英格兰南部避风的海岸线上的船舱上。绿巨人很快变得疾病缠身,三分之一的囚犯在船上死亡。
政府调查了将罪犯运送到非洲和加勒比海地区,但这两个目的地都被认为不合适。
1783 年,詹姆斯·马特拉 (James Matra) 曾是詹姆斯·库克 (James Cook) 1768 年太平洋航行的下级军官,因此是少数见过澳大利亚大陆的欧洲人之一,他向英国政府提议植物湾是殖民地的合适地点。约瑟夫·班克斯(Joseph Banks)是马特拉在1768年航行中的朋友,他大力支持这一提议。
最初,该计划是让殖民地成为想要离开新独立的美国的英国忠诚者的避难所,但在与内政大臣悉尼勋爵会面后,该计划被重新制定,主要由罪犯组成。
1785年,英国政府颁布了枢密院令,要求在新南威尔士州建立流放地。
1786 年 10 月 12 日,皇家海军上尉亚瑟·菲利普被任命为新南威尔士州第一任总督,并立即开始计划组建第一舰队。菲利普起草了一份详细的新殖民地计划大纲,包括:
当然,这个国家的法律将在新南威尔士州引入,我希望从国王陛下的军队占领这个国家的那一刻起就实施一项法律:在自由的土地上不能有奴隶制,因此也不能有奴隶。
菲利普在他那个时代是一位开明的领导人,他将殖民地想象成不仅是英国在南太平洋的前哨,而且是罪犯改过自新的地方。
1787 年 5 月 13 日,第一舰队从朴茨茅斯起航,并于 1788 年 1 月 18 日抵达植物湾。
一周之内,舰队离开了海湾,因为菲利普认为它不适合建立殖民地。他们向北航行到悉尼湾,即现在的环形码头,751名囚犯和252名海军陆战队员和管理人员在那里下船。菲利普在那里建立了定居点。
菲利普州长建立了一个制度,根据罪犯的技能雇用他们。
囚犯提供了建造这个年轻殖民地的道路、桥梁和公共建筑的劳动力,但自由定居者也可以向政府请愿,要求将罪犯分配到他们的农场工作。
第一批自由定居者于 1793 年抵达新南威尔士州,但罪犯仍然占多数,直到 1850 年代淘金热引诱大量涌入。
Convicts were mainly from England and Wales, with a large contingent of Irish (24 per cent) and a much smaller number of Scots (five per cent). Most were sentenced in the rapidly growing cities of Britain, where displaced rural populations struggled to find work in an increasingly industrialised world. Rates of theft increased as people stole food and clothing to survive.
A conviction for robbery of these small items could result in transportation for seven years. About 20 per cent of those convicted were female.
A small proportion of convicts were political prisoners, including Irish home rule insurgents, the unionist Tolpuddle Martyrs, anti-industrialising Luddites, Canadian rebels and political reforming Chartists.
Convicts were sent to Australia to work. Their sentences stipulated they would work from sunrise to sunset, Monday to Saturday. This was their punishment but the colonial administration also viewed it as an opportunity for redemption, as Governor Phillip believed that 'honest sweat’ was the convict’s best chance of improvement.
Convicts lived under very strict rules and any breaking of those regulations could result in punishment such as whippings, the wearing of leg-irons or solitary confinement. Serious crimes could result in sentences to hard-labour prisons such as Port Arthur or Norfolk Island.
By the mid-1830s only six per cent of convicts were locked up. The vast majority worked for the government or free settlers and, with good behaviour, could earn a ticket of leave, conditional pardon or and even an absolute pardon. While under such orders convicts could earn their own living.
The majority of convicts stayed on in Australia after their sentences were served. Once free, they could own land and, under Governor Lachlan Macquarie (1810–21), some were appointed to key positions in the colonial government.
In 1833 convict transportation peaked when 7,000 prisoners arrived in Australia but, by this time, public support for the system was already in decline.
However, it wasn’t until 1868 that convict transportation to Australia came to an end.
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Arthur Phillip, Australia Dictionary of Biography online
Michael Bogle, Convicts: Transportation and Australia, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Sydney, 2008.
John Hirst, Freedom on the Fatal Shore: Australia’s First Colony, Black Inc. Melbourne, 2008.
Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore: A History of the Transportation of Convicts to Australia, 1787–1868, Harvill, London, 1996.
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