The Australasian League, 1851-1854

Abstract

THE FIRST WHITE SETTLEMENT in Australia was a British penal colony founded in 1788. From this date and for eighty subsequent years the British government transported felons to Australia. British convicts, in fact, preceded the free colonists and for three decades outnumbered them. In consequence of this penal character, the Australian colonies were ruled despotically until after 1820o. At that time, there began a chain of events which made possible the development of a self-respecting citizenry, able to demand and obtain the cessation of transportation to its shores. The years 1824 and 1825 brought the first significant changes. New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land were granted legislative councils. A new nonconvict colony was planted in the far west. Still, the transportation system remained a fundamental part of Australian life. The regular use of convict laborers by the free settlers had established a variety of slave economy. While this system provided cheap labor and saved the government the support of assigned prisoners, its practical value diminished as the free population grew. Since the Australian colonies were in part penal establishments, the British government felt justified in withholding from them most of the privileges of self-government. The penal system itself, furthermore, involved methods which debased the innocent and further corrupted the guilty.' Despite the number of convicts who might in modern times be judged guiltless, many of them were dangerous, violent men. As servants, these convicts often exerted