Showing posts with label convicts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label convicts. Show all posts

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Convicts sent to New Zealand...



were Convicts Really Sent to New Zealand?

Despite assurances from the British government that NO convicts would be sent to the fledgling colony of New Zealand, two ships transported groups of "Parkhurst apprentices" to New Zealand -- the St. George carrying 92 boys arrived at Auckland on 25 October 1842, and the Mandarin with a load of 31 boys on 14 November 1843. These Parkhurst apprentices were young boys, most between the ages of 12 and 16, who had been sentenced to Parkhurst, a prison for young male offenders located on the Isle of Wight. The Parkhurst apprentices, most of whom were convicted for minor crimes such as stealing, were rehabilitated at Parkhurst, with training in occupations such as carpentry, shoemaking and tailoring, and then exiled to serve out the remainder of their sentence. The Parkhurst boys chosen for transport to New Zealand were among the best of the group, classified as either "free emigrants" or "colonial apprentices," with the idea that while New Zealand would not accept convicts, they would gladly accept trained labor. This did not go over well with the inhabitants of Auckland, however, who requested that no further convicts be sent to the colony.
Despite their inauspicious beginning, many descendants of the Parkhurst Boy’s became distinguished citizens of New Zealand

Friday, December 7, 2012

AUSTRALIA 1700's and 1800's



AUSTRALIA  1700’s and 1800’s.


1788 – The British established their first settlement at Sydney in Southeastern Australia. (A brief history of the human race. Michael Cook ©2003 UK. ISBN 1-86207-687-1.)

1850 – Ronald Parsons. Ships of Aust and NZ before 1850 parts 1 & 2 Parsons South Aust 1983.

1855 – Edward Hammond. Hardgraves Australia and its gold fields. London . H Ingram and co.

1858-1895 – James John would have been 2 and a half years old at the census in June 1841. On 16 December 1845 William married a second wife, Mary Ann Dunford. They lived in Helston UK. Mary Ann her step son, James John aged 19, her three other children took off to Australia on the “Stamboul” They arrived in Adelaide on 1 February 1858. The Australian gold rush of 1851 Ballarat mining from Cornwall. William died 12 June 1895 Salisbury Adelaide St Johns cemetery.

1871 – Charles John Mangan born Melbourne Victoria Australia.

1879 – 1906 – About 60,000 South Sea Islanders were brought to Queensland by blackbirders to be slaves on sugar plantations. Queensland sugar industry built on slavery. (7 December 2012 ABC net au Tony Eastley. Sugar cane farmer seeks recognition for buried slaves.).

12 June 1895 – William Pryor died Salisbury Adelaide SA Aust.

Coal and ore miners came from many depressed parts of England, notably Cornwall. During the first 30 years of Victoria’s rule Australia and NZ received one million migrants from the UK. By 1869 the colonial commissioners had assisted more than 300,000 UK citizens to emigrate mainly to Australia. In the year gold was discovered in Australia 1852. The use of a penalty to transport was revived in 1788 upon the founding of a penal colony in Australia. The Fry fleet of ships left Portsmouth for Botany bay with 1,493 passengers, including 586 males and 192 females, convicts. For the first 50 years of the new colony’s history about 40% of population were convicts. (Oxford guide to family history David Hey ©1993 p98)

Official UK statistics record only 485 migrants to Australia and NZ in 1825, then a rise to 32,625 in 1841. Between 1825 and 1851 222,955 British people emigrated voluntarily to Australia and NZ. Australia’s fortunes were built on sheep farmers and the lure of gold. By 1851 its population was 437,665. By 1858 the population reached one million. By 1877 it was two million and by 1889 it passed three million. 612,531 Australians who in 1861 were recorded as born in the UK. Records of convict ships 1788-1842. Lists of convicts 1788-1820 the registration of births marriages and deaths in Australia began between 1841 and 1856. The census returns were destroyed in Australia. (Oxford guide to family history David Hey ©1993).