America was not the only land to be heavily colonized by England. Australia is another country of predominately English colonization. One big difference between the two countries, however, is the number of colonist who chose to emigrate compared with those who were forced to leave their home country. Bound for Botany Bay: British Convict Voyages to Australia examines the nearly 200 year history of forced emigration of convict from England to Australia.
Right up front, in the Introduction, the authors acknowledge their own errant misconceptions they had before starting their own research into the convict transportation from England to Botany Bay.
“We shared the view that those responsible for law and order in Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries must have been cruelly vindictive people, happy to hung men, women, and even your children for stealing objects of trifling value. Those who escaped execution faced a living death in desolate convict colonies on the opposite side of the world. These unfortunates were transported in ships amounting to floating hells in which they were systematically abused, physically and mentally. Unsurprisingly, convicts died in vast numbers of disease and neglect while at sea. The prisoners who survived to reach Australia had to eke out their sentences in chain gangs—breaking rocks and beaten constantly by spiteful guards for the slightest inattention or the merest hint of insubordination. Some convicts escaped from this torture to form robber gangs, which then terrorized evolving settlements. Such were the antecedents of Australia, or so it was easy to assume.”
The authors readily admit how wrong these conceptions were. Yes, conditions were not always the best and many died in accidents. However, as time passed, conditions improved, education never offered to some became available for the first time in the lives of many. In time, some found their freedom and their families eventually joined them in their new world.
Bound for Botany Bay examine, in great detail, the history of transportation to the Australian colonies through the words and observations of tens of thousands of convicts. The book looks into controversial policies on forced emigration as a deterrent, a punishments, and as a solution to labor shortages. The history is a compilation of insights provided through letters, journals, logbooks, and popular ballads. The authors learned, as can the reader of these pages, not all trips were terrible—there were unexpected opportunities and surprise pleasures.
The book is engaging and the truths uncovered surprising. Challenging preconceptions and accepting the good in the bad makes histories like this one worth reading.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Beginning of Transportation
Chapter 2 The First Three Fleets
Chapter 3 The Trauma of Exile
Chapter 4 Who Were the Convicts?
Chapter 5 Child Convicts
Chapter 6 Keeping Order
Chapter 7 Staying Alive on the Convict Ships
Chapter 8 The Surgeon’s Tale
Chapter 9 The Promised Land
Conclusion Towards the End of Transportation
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Bound for Botany Bay: British Convict Voyages to Australia is available from Family Roots Publishing; Item #: TNA20, Price: $35.28.