Send 'Em to New South Wales! Trivia Quiz

Answer: theft

According to Robert Hughes, about 8 out of 10 criminals had been convicted of theft, including the poaching of game. Other crimes, like murder and political crimes, were seldom represented. Because the sentence of exile was so severe, occasionally the person whose property had been stolen would ask for clemency for the convicted thief.

Answer: All of these

All of these factors contributed to Britain's policy of sending convicts away to New South Wales, a remote colony that Britain was also keen to populate. At the same time, different factors such as urbanization, poverty and unemployment led to an increase in crime.

Answer: hulk

Prisoners were first placed on hulks, described as decrepit three-masted ships which served as intermediate prison ships. While these ships could float, they were not able to sail. From there, a prisoner would be transferred to an Australia-bound ship. While on the hulks, many prisoners were shackled and kept in irons.

Answer: assignment system

The assignment system placed convicts with settlers, providing them with essentially free labor for a period of time. According to Hughes, some settlers with strong political connections were able to get the most skilled workers for themselves. In addition, a British official might "punish" an awkward settler by taking away his assigned convicts.

Answer: about 25,000

From a total number of 160,000 or so convicts, about 25,000 were women, and some children were also included. In addition, some wives from England followed their convict husbands to Australia, but they had to pay their own way for the long voyage. (Sending some women to New South Wales was of course essential in order to populate the colony).

Answer: rum

For a period of about twenty years, convicts were paid partly in rum for their labor, causing lots of problems with alcohol addiction. Much of the rum was imported from Bangor in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land).

Answer: Bryant party

Mary Bryant, her husband, two children and several other convicts escaped on an open boat and sailed north to Timor, where they convinced the Dutch governor that they were castaways. After living there several months, William Bryant supposedly told the governor the truth, and all of the escapees were arrested. An Australian film about Mary Bryant was released in 2005.

Answer: Macquarie Harbour

Hell's Gate was the entrance to this remote prison compound in Tasmania (formerly Van Diemen's Land). A barren island in Macquarie Harbor, Sarah Island, housed the inmates. The convicts worked 16-hour days hauling pine trees in treacherous conditions. Food and warmth were particularly scarce.

Answer: all of these

All of these finally put an end to the exiling of prisoners. Reformers in Australia joined with those in England, calling for an end to the penal colony. Moreover, Britain had by the late 1840s built several new prisons. In addition, the government starting paying free people to emigrate to Australia, which helped with a labor shortage there. Finally, a gold rush made people very eager to come to Australia. Though transportation remained on the statute book till 1868, it was rarely used after about 1850.

Answer: Gulag in the Soviet Union

Since the convicts were usually paid, had a definite term of service, and had some rights, they were not slaves. Their situation, according to Robert Hughes, was like the Russian prisoners who were sent into exile to the Gulag by the Soviet System. There, they worked at manual labor under harsh conditions, and many never returned home.