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Founding Australia
European discovery and the colonisation of AustraliaThe first records of European mariners sailing into 'Australian' waters occurs around 1606. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutchman, Willem Janszoon. Between 1606 and 1770, an estimated 54 European ships from a range of nations made contact. Abel Tasman then charted parts of the north, west and south coasts of which was then known as New Holland. In 1770, James Cook claimed the East Coast under King George III. -
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Penal System in Australia
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The First Fleet
The first Eurpean settlers arrived in New South Wales., Botony Bay. The first whilte settlement began almost twenty years before. In August sailed to Australia, under the command of Captain James Cook. The voyage from Cape Town to Botany Bay took about eight weeks. It was an uncomfortable passage as the ships were constantly met by rough seas. There was no break from the constant battering or sailing, even on Christmas Day. -
Norfolk Island
Norfolk IslandWhen the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson in January 1788, a party of fifteen convicts and seven free men, were transported to Norfolk Island to take control of the island and prepare for its commercial development. -
The Second Fleet
In the afternoon the ship Lady Juliana sailed into the harbour of Sydney Town. This ship was proved to be the first of a new fleet of convict ships. It brought 222 woman convicts and some prisoners, but not enough to change the colony drastically. This ship was the first of six, all of which left England at seperate intervals. -
Risdon Coast
In 1804 Lieutenant Colonel David Collins arrived in the Derwent from Port Phillip. Within a few days he rejected Risdon Cove as a suitable settlement site, for its inadequate source of fresh water, and moved his party across the river to Sullivans Cove. The military and convicts disembarked from the Ocean near Hunter Island on the 20–21 February 1804, beginning what is now known as Hobart. -
Sarah Island
Sarah Island was a penal settlement. Altogether about 1200 men and women were sentenced or sent to Sarah Island. Most of them had committed further offences while serving their original sentences. This isolated island was a Penal Settlement between 1822 and 1833. -
Maria Island
For two periods during the first half of the 1800s, Maria Island hosted convict settlements. The island's first convict era was between 1825 and 1832 and its second - the probation station era - between 1842 and 1851. Today it is perhaps the best place in Tasmania for observing forest birds, and is home to eleven of the twelve bird species that are endemic and unique to Tasmania. (default day and month) -
Cascades Female Factory
Cascades Female Factory
Cascades Female Factory operated between 1828 and 1856. 3750 female convicts are known to have spent time here, either serving a sentence, awaiting assignmens or awaiting confinement. More woman are being found to have served time all the time, so this number is always growing. (defalut day and month) -
Port Arthur
Port ArthurOriginally designed as a replacement for the recently closed timber camp at Birches Bay, Port Arthur quickly grew in importance within the penal system of the colonies. Port Arthur was a secondary punishment system. There were many different parts of Port arthur, including the Industrial Prison and activities such as ship building, which was thought to reform the convicts. -
Penal Servitude Act
Penal Servitude ActThe Penal Servitude Act abolished transportation for woman. This was abolished in all cases and provided that in all cases a person who would otherwise have been liable to transportation would be liable to penal servitude instead. Penal Servitude was a term of imprisonment that usually included hard labour and was served in this country. -
Private Executions
Act was passed to ensure executions took place inside prison walls. This decreased the rate of brutality in society. Because the public could not watch hangings, some people would state that this helped society become more civilised. -
Last Convict Ship
The last convict ship to Western Australia, and to anywhere in the Australian colonies, arrived in Freemantle Harbour in January 1868. THe last convict ship to Western Australia was the Hougoumont, which left Britain in 1867 and arrived in Western Australia on 10 January 1868. -
Last Tasmanian Aboriginal
Truganini was a famous Tasmanian Aborigine. Truganini died in 1876 aged sixty-four, and was buried in the grounds of the female convict gaol in Hobart. Truganini became known as the last Tasmanian Aborigine, but there are many controversies surrounding this. -
Port Arthur
Port ArthurPort Arthur closed this year officially. No more convicts were transported there for their punishment. Almost immediately the site was renamed Carnarvon. Years later it was opened as a tourist attraction, and is officially a historic site, to show the public the horrors of which the convicts had to bear with. It opened as a tourist attraction in the 1880's. -
Ned Kelly
Ned KellyEdward "Ned" Kelly (June 1854/June 1855 – 11 November 1880) was an Irish-Australian bushranger, and, to some, a folk hero for his defiance of the colonial authorities. As a young man he clashed with the Victoria Police. Following an incident at his home in 1878, police parties searched for him in the bush. After he killed three policemen, the colony proclaimed Kelly and his gang wanted outlaws. A final violent confrontation with police took place at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880. -
Last Hanging
Ronald RyanThe last person who was hanged in Australia was Ronald Ryan at Pentridge prison, who was later found innocent. Ryan was found guilty of shooting and killing prison officer George Hodson during a prison escape from Pentridge Prison, Victoria in 1965. This hanging started much protest, and lead to the subsequent abolition of the death penalty in Australia. He is remembered as the last person to be judicially executed in Australia. -
Aboriginal Flogging
The last flogging of aboriginals occured in Western Australia, in the 1980's. The general area of human rights violations was considered ill treatment, and from the standards equating in many cases to genocide, of the Australian Aborigines since the arrival of white settlers, Australia abolished this injustice towards their culture.
