1.6 Movement of People to Australia

Learning Intention: To understand the reason for movement of peoples to Australia.

Success Criteria: I can:

•  Extract key ideas from a reader on the historical background of the movement of peoples

• Determine the process of the colonisation of Australia

Activity 1 - Historical Background to the Movement of Peoples to Australia

1. Read the following passage and write 5 key points you take from this on the movement of peoples to Australia.

Between 1788 and 1868 more than 162,000 convicts were transported to Australia. Of these, about 7,000 arrived in 1833 alone. The convicts were transported as punishment for crimes committed in Britain and Ireland as a result of the living conditions of the Industrial Revolution. In Australia their lives were hard as they helped build the young colony. When they had served their sentences, most stayed on and some became successful settlers.

Letter from the Reverend Richard Johnson, Sydney, 29 July 1794:

A great number of those whose terms have expired have turned settlers, some of whom are doing well, better than many farmers in England.

Transportation as a form of criminal punishment emerged in the British legal system from the early 17th century as an alternative to execution. Many crimes that today would be considered minor offences were punishable by hanging, and there were 225 identified capital offences at the time. The American colonies were the main destination for convict transportation in the 18th century and a thriving business developed around the process. British businessmen obtained contracts for transportation from local sheriffs. They selected the convicts they wanted (usually based on their ability to work) and, once the transport ships arrived in the colonies, sold on the convicts’ labour for the duration of their sentences.

THE FIRST FLEET - On 12 October 1786 Royal Navy Captain Arthur Phillip was appointed the first governor of New South Wales and immediately began planning the formation of the First Fleet. Phillip drafted a detailed outline of his plans for the new colony including:

The laws of this country will of course be introduced in New South Wales, and there is one that I would wish to take place from the moment His Majesty’s forces take possession of the country: That there can be no slavery in a free land, and consequently no slaves.

Phillip was an enlightened leader for his time and imagined the colony not just as a British outpost in the South Pacific, but as a place for convicts to rehabilitate themselves.

On 13 May 1787 the First Fleet sailed from Portsmouth and arrived in Botany Bay on 18 January 1788.

Within a week the fleet left the bay as Phillip decided it was unsuitable for the establishment of a colony. They sailed north to Sydney Cove, now Circular Quay, where the 751 convicts and 252 marines and administrators disembarked.

Convict transportation peaks | National Museum of Australia 

Activity 2 - Transportation to Australia (Your teacher will print a copy for you)

Watch the following clip on the transportation to Australia and answer the accompanying questions on the handout.