ABSTRACT
In 1788, Arthur Phillip piloted the ‘First Fleet’ into Botany Bay to establish a penal settlement. Between 1788 and 1868, around 160,000 convicts were transported to Australia. Most came from England, Wales or Ireland, although there were some from Europe and some African slaves. Were they hardened criminals or working men and women convicted of theft born out of poverty? Set to work building the colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, convicts developed their own ‘flash language’, songs and pastimes, usually marrying and staying on at the end of their sentence. What visions did the first British governors have for their new societies and how did they interact with Indigenous peoples? Over time, the penal colonies proved a disaster for the Indigenous peoples whose dispossession led to widespread malnutrition and death from disease and violence. The convict era has been a rich field for Australian novelists, historians and playwrights, but for many years dark suspicions lingered as to whether this inauspicious beginning would ever lead to the emergence of a respectable and prosperous society.
