Penal Colonies

The Australian Experiment

Once England decided on the penal colony as a means of punishment, it was necessary to find a place to send the convicts. Previously, the British had on occasion transported convicts to the American colonies; however, following American independence, this was no longer an option, and the search for another suitable destination began. The British decided on Botany Bay, a harbor discovered by Captain James Cook on a voyage along the eastern cost of Australia in the late seventeenth century.

Why England decided to colonize Botany Bay in New South Wales (one of Australia's five territories) is a matter of some dispute. Some historians argue that it was intended as a penal colony in the first place, while others feel the British had hopes of using the colony to supply its navy and merchant vessels and to further its domination of the area. Scholars who support the first argument believe, as did administrators and lawmakers of the time, that the crime problem was the foremost concern of the government and that the need to remove a substantial portion of the criminal class from England was paramount (Martin 1978). Historians argue that the idea of transporting criminals to destinations far removed from England grew out of beliefs about the origins of crime that were popular at the time. In the late eighteenth century, philosophers, criminologists, and others believed that the cause of crime could be found in criminals' basic nature; consequently, they believed that if it were possible to get rid of criminals, it would be possible to substantially reduce and possibly eradicate crime in England.

Historians who are proponents of the second argument (Australia as supply depot) suggest that there was an enormous economic advantage to England in sending convicts to live in a colony, especially New South Wales. Convicts could provide skilled and unskilled labor with little cost and great advantage to the mother country; the captive labor force would build towns and roads—an infrastructure that would support the expansion of British interests throughout the world.

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