Convict Lives

The lives of Convicts were harsh and unforgiving. The penalty of transportation was a blessing in disguise for some, but also a massive burden for those who were transported away from their home (in a time where transport took months and years, not days) with no prospect of ever returning to see their homeland. The burden of guilt weighed heavily on those early settlers of Australia. While being a convict was of great shame to many, how one became a convict is something very relevant to the development of Australia. 

The value in having a skilled convict over an unskilled convict is clearly evident in the work that he or she is able to perform while enslaved and free. It seems that convicts are from many different backgrounds, and not just being the dregs of society. Many of them had fallen from different parts of society and ended up enslaved on Australian shores till their death or freedom. Convicts had the right to freedom after their allotted sentence had been served, however had little prospect of freedom primarily due to the length of their sentence. Many convicts were put under the control of wealthy private property owners who used the slave labour to work their land. Convicts were also put to use on public works.

A convicts origins can be broken down into a few major catagories. The sheer number of convicts can be put down to the punitive legal system and lack of space within England and Britain. However G.A. Woods reacts against the notion that the convicts were victims rather than criminals, suggesting that they are ‘village Hampdens’ or the dregs of society. Convicts were predominantly working class people who were lazy and made a conscious choice to not do work, and rather achieve personal and material gain from stealing etc. There are also elements who were genuinely destitute and had to steal to survive. These people, lacking a profession through which to gain legitimate financial advantage were forced into a situation of being professional poor. People who, on a generational basis were beggars and thief's.

Source: Gare & Ritter, Making Australian History (Perspectives on the past since 1788), CENGAGE Learning, 1st Edition

A convict ploughing team turning new earth at Port Arthur in Tasmania. This postcard highlights the very physical and almost slave like nature of convict life, with the 'slave driver' whipping them like horses to do work.
(http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do
ct=display&doc=SLV_VOYAGER1705749&indx=1&vid=
MAIN&vl(freeText0)=convict%20ploughing%20team&ct=search&
fromLogin=true&fn=search&indx=1&frbg=&srt=rank&tab=default_tab&mode=Basic&dum=true)

Responses to Gold

The discovery of gold in Australia provided a new outlet for aspirations of a young, ambitious and growing population. The prospect of instant wealth and the associated rise up the social ladder, particularly for a population still very much influenced by its convict roots. The redistribution of wealth, and the dissolving of the traditional social classes is something that both the underclass craved, while the upper class feared.

With the discovery of Gold in Victoria, Melbourne became the largest exporter of Gold in the world. This newfound wealth allowed not just people to improve themselves, but also the society to improve. The Parliament building and the Imperial edifices’ in central Melbourne highlight the wealth that was available to the state. The building of public works, and the dissemination of wealth throughout the population allowed for a growing sense of purpose and potential. 

While gold bought a new sense of potential and hope, it also bought with it many complications. Financial responsibility is one of the many downward concerns of the upper class. They argued that many prospectors after striking lucky, were not known for their fiscal austerity, and were rather more likely to waste their new found wealth on the goldfields, instead of investing the money in responsible ways. The lower classes however had upward conflicts of their own when it comes to representation in Parliament, as well as breaking the squatocracy stranglehold on land ownership. The independence afforded by the ownership of ones own land, allowed one to improve himself without relying on another for employment and finances.

While these are more internal conflicts, newly growing national and imperial sentiments bought about racism and discrimination which had a more unifying and outward repercussions. The arrival of particularly the Chinese in Australia, chasing the wealth of gold, provided an added and in many cases, unwanted dimension to the goldfields. Thousands of Chinese workers migrated to Australia to strike gold, with the intent of sending it home to support their families. Not only were they generally harder workers than many of the Anglo prospectors, they generally would work for less money. This division and early segregation in society helped for form the basis of the White Australia Policy. This combined with the unity seen at events like Eureka, helped to build a lower and middle class strength that still exists in Australia today. And all of these sentiments can be attributed to the discovery of gold at a critical point in Australia’s history.

Source: Gare & Ritter, Making Australian History (Perspectives on the past since 1788), CENGAGE Learning, 1st Edition

This photo highlights the ruggen and manly aspect of the goldfields. It shows elements of camaraderie but also the hardship endured by prospectors on the goldfields.
(http://www.abc.net.au/rn/hindsight/galleries/2009/2476471/8.htm)

Frontier or History Wars

Popular culture portrays Australia as a nation born out of free people with a common sense of identity and unity. Therefor it is difficult for many to come to terms with the Frontier conflict which Reynolds argues ‘was apparent in almost every part of Australia through it varied in duration and intensity’. He argues that Aboriginal clans suffered disproportionately compared to the pioneer communities, however they also inflicted death, injury, property loss and prolonged anxiety on these settler communities. Historians such as Geoffrey Blainey and Keith Windshuttle have argued against particularly the notion of deliberate frontier violence perpetrated by Pioneers, as well as the scope and scale of the conflict, and its consequences. This historical debate has been called the History Wars.

The “Black Armband view of history”, a term coined by Geoffrey Blainey, and made use of by former Prime Minister John Howard to describe a position within society arguing that the current population was not willing to be burdened with the responsibility and guilt of the past, as well as a defence of the positive and credible legacy left by the early pioneers.
A lack of written tradition and accountable records on both sides of the conflict, and the historical distance that exists between the protagonists and historians has allowed this position to percolate through society. The sporadic and localized nature of the conflict, as well as a clear lack of communicated overarching policy with regards to frontier conflict, from the continental Pioneer communities and the administrations, makes it difficult to tie down a particular position to blame, which therefor shifts blame onto the wider pioneer group (with the exception of Tasmania, where there was a concerted effort by the general population to remove Aborigines).
Reynolds is criticized by Windshuttle for his for his extrapolation of available data in an attempt to recreate accurate data which is unavailable due to the lack of historical records. Windshuttle argues that ‘If you don’t have the records, you can’t say.’ It is however worth examining the general trends in Reynolds academic numbers as possible scope for the nature of the conflict, rather than dismissing them out of hand as Windshuttle does.

This apportioning blame to the wider community, does not sit well with many people (e.g. Howard), who feel that the debate has too much emphasis on the Aboriginal suffering, and not enough on the loss suffered by the Pioneer people, as well as the detracting the the wonderful foundation work done by those early settlers. A sense of national pride is felt through the achievements of the pioneer population. By soiling the pioneers reputation by examining their actions out of context through the prism of a modern historical viewpoint,  society that survives today is somehow is painted with the same brush.
There is no doubt there was conflict however, which draws the conclusion that there was very much a Frontier war, while the extremely diverse History war over its duration and scope continues to rage.

Source: Gare & Ritter, Making Australian History (Perspectives on the past since 1788), CENGAGE Learning, 1st Edition

'Mounted Police and Blacks' depicts the killing of Aboriginals at Slaughterhouse Creek by British troops. The image appeared as the frontispiece to the first volume of Mundy's publication, 'Our Antipodes: or, Residence and Rambles in the Australasian colonies, with a Glimpse of the Goldfields' (3 vols, London, 1852). It was one of twelve landscape and stylised action scenes he drew for the volume. The lithograph was executed by W.L. Walton after sketches by Mundy and his wife, Louisa. The Slaughterhouse Creek massacre occured in 1838 when Mounted police, mostly European volunteers, set out in response to conflict on the Liverpool Plains north of central NSW. At 'Vinegar Hill', a site on Slaughterhouse Creek, 60 to 300 (exact number unknown) Aboriginals were reported killed. The European casualty was a Corporal speared in the leg. (Description courtesy of Australian War Memorial)This painting while not providing explanation for the conflict, highlights the military nature of the conflict, particularly on the side of the British. The use of armed uniformed police is a confronting and waging a frontier conflict points much more towards a deliberate act rather than an isolated incident.
(http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/ART50023/)

Europeans & the Australian Environment

The role of pioneers in Australian national mythology has changed over time, and still is very much a part of our national historical narrative. The Pioneer idea helps Australia to distract from its convict past, and allows the national conscious to focus on a free people, exploring and taming the wild Australian land. From a modern perspective, the history of Australia has been shaped by many people from many nations. While Australia was founded as a British nation, many Irish, Scottish and Chinease people helped shape the nation during the gold rush, post World War 2 there was a large amount of non British migration form Europe, post the Vietnam War a large asian immigration occurred, and more recently in the 1990’s and 2000’s a large African and Middle Eastern immigration has occurred. Through this prism, modern historians have almost portrayed these immigrants as pioneers of their own, in coming so far from their homeland, and leaving their mark on Australian culture.

The early pioneers however, have helped shape the concept of the Australian person more than any other. The mythological image of an early pioneer is that of a rugged, self sustaining, innovative, hardened, a man of few words who has created much from nothing. The pioneer managed to tame the harsh wilderness and make for himself a respectable and prosperous life, an industrious and self made man.

The pioneer past is divorced from convict past of Australia also. The early pioneers in Australia made the decision to risk themselves as free people, to exploring the wild new land. While many in the cities continued the traditions of Britain and looked towards the creation of a ‘Better Britain’, the pioneers symbolise the rejection of the traditional British way of life and the cultural and social barriers that came with it. The pioneer began to symbolise the Australian person as distinct from a British person.

Source: Gare & Ritter, Making Australian History (Perspectives on the past since 1788), CENGAGE Learning, 1st Edition

This is a digital reproduction of Frederick McCubbin's  The Pioneer, 1904.

It is a wonderful representation of the pioneer life during the early period of Australian settlement.

It shows three stages of a Pioneers life;

The Beginning- A scene of a woman contemplating the complete remoteness and isolation that now engulfs her life.

The Middle- The man, wife and child, who have made a home for themselves in the remoteness of the Australian outback.

The End- A man paying homage to possibly his parents or friends, that now lie on the land they cultivated, while the development of a city in the background shows how many have followed The Pioneer to create a new life.

(http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exilesandemigrants/ed_newland_05.html)

Outpost of Empire

The reasons for sending 11 ships full of convicts, Army and Navy officers and supplies to settle an uncharted land are as divisive as they are numerous. Arguments over the development of Australia and the reasons for settlement go straight to the core of the national identity. Many people see themselves not as the descendants of convicts, but of hard working people who came to this land to make a better life. And yet, Australia cannot escape the fact that the First Fleet was made up as a facility to transport convicts away from Britain.
People over the years have tried to forward opinions on the reasons for settlement, and one of the most notable is Geoffrey Blainey.
Blainey argued in his book ‘The Tyranny of Distance’ that the concept of Australia as purely a dumping ground for convicts is too simplistic. He argues that the distances are too far for the dumping of convicts to be the only reason for settlement, when there were un-inhabited places much closer to Britain that could be used (he uses the example of islands in the West Indies and Bermuda, as well as Nova Scotia in Canada). The cost of transporting to Botany Bay, the lack of return cargo, and loss of the two Navy ships off the active roster at a time of Naval tension were also arguments Blainey used to forward his position that there would have to have been more practical and material reasons for the settlement of Australia, given the vastness of the distance involved in the undertaking.
These material benefits include the resources of flax and tall timber from Norfolk Island for ships masts and sailcloth, and practical benefits Blainey argued would also have been given great consideration, particularly in relation to British access to the eastern end of the Dutch East Indies and the lucrative trade routes. The arguments that Botany Bay could be used as a stop off point for trade, resupply and as a defensive outpost in the Far East are also relevant here, as well as the continued creation of new markets for British goods.
This twofold argument of removing unwanted people, and the material and practical imperial gains caused much controversy in Australia, as it challenged the traditional beliefs of the nation. Up until 1966 when Blainey published his book, mainstream Australian history had revolved around a convict nation, attempting to redeem itself in the eyes of a parent country and culture. The added dimension of Australia as a source of material gain, seen through the prism of such a vast distance has caused much controversy.  The debate has recently distilled down to an argument over whether the notion of ‘distance’ has been the only defining factor in Australia’s development or whether it acts in tandem with other factors.
Either way, Blainey’s analysis is one of the most defining pieces of Australian historical literature, and one which has many merits.

Source: Gare & Ritter, Making Australian History (Perspectives on the past since 1788), CENGAGE Learning, 1st Edition

This is a digital reproduction of Cathy Dunn's "Australia's First Fleet". It highlights the genuine Outpost of Empire!
The raising of the Union Jack on Australian soil would have been very ceremonial, and fitting with the traditions of the British Empire, and yet the surrounds are so remote and unknown (highlighted by the fact they've yet to move off the beach of Sydney Cove)
(http://www.elec-intro.com/first-fleet-1788)