WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE AS A CONVICT INDEX

WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE AS A CONVICT

INDEX Slide 1: What is a Convict Slide 2: What kind of work did convicts have to do Slide 3: Punishment Slide 4: Images Slide 5: Why were there so many convicts Slide 6: What was life like on the ships/hulks Slide 7: Entertainment Slide 8: Clothing Slide 9: Female Convicts Slide 10: Children Convicts

INDEX Slide 11: Why were convicts transported to Australia? Slide 12: Famous Convicts Slide 13: Elizabeth Hayward Slide 14: John Hudson Slide 15: Mary Abel Slide 16: Glossary Slide 17: Bibliography #1 Slide 18: Bibliography #2 Slide 19: Slide 20: Notes Questions

WHAT IS A CONVICT? • A Convict is someone who is guilty of a crime by the judge and the jury at court. The crime back then was as simple as stealing a loaf of bread to not die of starvation. Many convicts were sent to Australia for the tiniest of things. Convicts were first sent to Australia in the 1860’s because the jails back in Britain were getting packed and there was no more room. They were sent on a fleet or a hulk ship, where they were having to do slavery and other brutal things.

WHAT KIND OF WORK DID CONVICTS HAVE TO DO? • Convicts worked long hard hours. They worked Monday. Friday for around 9 hours and on a Saturday for 5 hours. On a Sunday they had the day off but they had to go to church. The first Convicts here started making Sydney’s earliest buildings and road making. As time went along, some convicts even worked for payment. Convicts made fires with a strip of metal and rock. They had to burn off things, planting wheat and corn, shop keeping, splitting wood and making fences.

Punishment • Some convicts just couldn’t stay out of trouble. Convicts got into trouble for many things such as swearing, laziness, being drunk, running late for work and of course stealing goods. For that you would receive lashes. Lashes are when you get whipped a certain amount of times with a whip called a cat-o-nine-tail. Imagine when your parents hit you once or twice with their hands, imagine if u got hit 50 times with a cricket bat for being lazy or for swearing. Picture how much it would hurt. Also they had leg irons attached to their ankles when they got whipped to make sure they didn’t try to run away during their punishment. Women had different punishments. Sometimes they would get whipped but normally they would get their nails crushed with a nail crusher.

Cat-O-nine-tail Nail Crusher

Why were there so many Convicts? • Life in Britain was very hard. As new machines were invented, people no longer needed to do farming jobs, so they moved to the cities. The cities became over populated. Many people didn’t have a job and became very poor. People stole things to survive. Small crimes such as stealing things worth more than one shilling, cutting down a tree in an orchard or stealing livestock were punishable by transportation. The prisons quickly became full and prisoners were kept in old, rotting prison ships called hulks. These ships were usually an old naval or merchant ship that could not go to sea anymore but could still float safely in the harbour.

What was life like on the ships/hulks? • There were many conditions in these floating gaols. The hulks were over-crowded and there wasn’t even enough room for them to stand up! On board each hulk there could be up to 300 convicts. There were many diseases on board and lots of convicts died. Between 1776 and 1795 nearly 2000 out of almost 6000 convicts held on hulks, died. The majority died from diseases such as typhoid and choler. The convicts weren’t fed very well. The people in charge of making the meals wanted to keep costs low. The daily diet was often ox-cheek, peas, bread or biscuits. The biscuits were often mouldy and soggy. Tobacco could be given to convicts as part of their ration as a reward for doing a good job and for good behaviour.

Entertainment • Convicts had to be resourceful with the games they played. They had to use the equipment they had to make games. They used either bone or wood for their base. Gambling was illegal but at night they would secretly leave and play games where they gambled rum and their rations. Convicts played lots of games of chance including cards and marbles. They also played instruments, they juggled and did lots of storytelling and other things that relieved boredom. Convicts made their own language called slang so the authorities couldn’t understand what they were saying to each other.

Clothing • Men and women wore similar clothing. Men received 2 jackets, 1 waistcoat, 2 shirts, 1 hat, 1 woollen cap, 2 pairs of shoes and stockings. Women got 1 jacket, 2 petticoats, 2 shifts [plain dresses], 1 hat, 1 cap, 1 handkerchief, 2 pairs of shoes and stockings. With all the work the Convicts had to do, the clothes got worn out quickly and they had to use other materials around to make new pieces of clothing. Socks probably were the clothing that got worn out the quickest. The convicts had to use old pieces of rag to make them into socks. It most likely was better than wearing shoes that weren’t made for either left or right foot. That would be pretty unconfutable. Convicts were really reusable people who let nothing but scraps go to waste. Every piece of material or old clothing was reused.

Female Convicts • When the First Fleet arrived there weren’t many women at all. After a while, most of them tried to find employment. Many of them went to the ‘Female Factories’ that’s what they called the clothe making factory and another popular one was going off to be a maid or a servant. Some looked after the gardens; They cooked, looked after children and worked in the orphanage or hospital.

Children Convicts Most children didn’t go to school they started work from a very young age. In the colony they had 10 -20 children from age 5 -6. Most children worked on jobs around the farms such as watching the sheep, milking the cows, sometimes shearing and just other jobs around the farm. In the town the boys aged 10 and up could become tradespeople and do apprenticeships. After they had done their apprenticeship they went and worked for their master. Girls could go do apprenticeships at the age of 10 and up but they had limited things to do. Girls mainly went and made clothes, worked at laundries, were a servant and worked around their masters house. Their masters could treat the children however they wanted it depended on if they had a mean master who would treat you like a piece of dirt or a nice master who would treat you respectfully.

Why were convicts transported to Australia? • Convicts were originally sent to Australia with the First Fleet because there were simply too many convicts in Britain, and they were running out of prisons to hold them in. Until 1782, English convicts were transported to America. However, in 1783 the American War of Independence ended. America refused to accept any more convicts, so England had to find somewhere else to send their prisoners. Transportation to New South Wales was the solution.

FAMOUS CONVICTS Elizabeth Hayward Mary Abel John Hudson

Elizabeth Hayward • In 1787, Elizabeth Hayward, aged 13 years, was tried for stealing at the Justice Hall in the Old Bailey. Her occupation at the time was a clog maker, and she was apprenticed to Mr. Thomas Cross. A month previous, on 19 December 1786, Elizabeth had stolen from her employer a linen gown, value 4 s, a silk bonnet value 2 s, and a bath cloak, value 1 s. These goods she then pawned to a person, named Sarah Phillips. Elizabeth was found guilty and sentenced to 7 years transportation. When the First Fleet sailed, Elizabeth was aboard the Lady Penrhyn and was the youngest female convict on the First Fleet.

• John Hudson was convicted for stealing one linen shirt, value 10 shillings, five silk stockings, value 5 shillings, one pistol, value 5 shillings, and two aprons, value 2 shillings [All up valued 27 shillings}. He avoided death sentence and instead was sentenced seven years’ transportation. This included life aboard a number of prison ships before leaving for Australia in 1787. John arrived in Australia the following year at the age of 13. John Hudson

Mary Abel • Mary Abel was convicted for stealing hempen cloth, tablecloths, clothing & other items, all up valued at 31 Shillings. She was tried at Worcester, Worcestershire in 1785. She then was sentenced to transportation for 7 years. She left England a boarded the Lady Penrhyn aged about 30 at that time. Mary was pregnant when she embarked and gave birth to a child named William on the 13 th of April 1787. Mary married a man named Thomas Tilley on the 4 th of May 1787 at Sydney Cove. Her son died a year later in May 1788. On the 21 st of July 1788, Mary also died.

GLOSSARY Cat o’ nine tails The cat o’ nine tails is a whip with nine strips. When you got whipped u would have to be standing on a wooden triangular piece and you would get whipped. Each time you got whipped more cuts and scars and blood would slowly go through your skin. Nail Crusher A nail crusher is a metal devise only used on woman. It’s a devise where you put your nail in and wind until it crushes your nail. Pawned is when you steal something and then go sell it to someone to get money. Knower days we don’t have pawnbrokers because we have e. Bay and gumtree. Merchant Ship A Merchant Ship is a trading vessel or a watercraft used to transport cargo or to carry passengers. Typhoid is an illness that gives a rash, aching pain then a fever that the eventually makes you die.

Bibliography #1 • https: //www. lonetester. com/2018/01/21 -facts-about-the-first-fleet/ • https: //convictrecords. com. au • http: //thefamilyhistorian. com. au/ • http: //www. abc. net. au/btn/classroom/first-fleet/10529128 • https: //www. utas. edu. au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/F/Female%20 convicts. htm • https: //sydneylivingmuseums. com. au/ • https: //portarthur. org. au/history-timeline/ • https: //www. digitalpanopticon. org/Convicts_and_the_Colonisation_of_Australia

Bibliography #2 • https: //sydneylivingmuseums. com. au/stories/why-were-convicts-transported-australia • http: //guides. sl. nsw. gov. au/c. php? g=671838&p=4728752 • https: //www. pilotguides. com/tv-shows/short-history-of-the-world/a-short-history-of-convictaustralia/ • https: //kids. kiddle. co/Convict • https: //libraries. tas. gov. au/family-history/Pages/Convict-life

NOTES

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