The Western Australian records we've been using for our recent research and digitised for the Digital Panopticon project reveal the story of Samuel Speed, the last living Australian convict. He was transported to Western Australia in 1866 and died in 1938, just short of his 100th birthday.
The Last Convict is an historical novel based on the life of Samuel Speed, who believed himself to be – and is widely accepted as – the last transported convict to survive in Australia. He died in November 1938, on the eve of the Second World War and within the lifetime of many people still living.
On 9 January 1868 the convict ship Hougoumont arrived at the port of Fremantle in Western Australia. On board were 269 convicts. They were the last convicts to be sent to Australia. The ship's arrival marked the end of 80 years of penal transportation to Australia.
The convicts of the First Fleet included both men and women. Most were British, but a few were American, French, and even African. Their crimes ranged from theft to assault. Most convicts were sentenced to seven years' “transportation” (the term for the sending of prisoners to a usually far-off penal colony).
Mary Wade (17 December 1775 – 17 December 1859) was a British teenager and convict who was transported to Australia when she was 13 years old.
South Australia was an experimental British colony and the only Australian colony which did not officially take convicts.
After 93 nights in the Newgate Prison Mary set sail for Australia. King George III was declared mad. As a result, many waiting to be executed were instead bound for transportation to the penal colony of Australia. At 10 years old, Mary took voyage, the youngest ever convict, aboard the Lady Juliana.
Samuel Terry (c. 1776 – 22 February 1838) was transported to Australia as a criminal, where he became a wealthy landowner, merchant and philanthropist. His extreme wealth made him by far the richest man in the colony with wealth comparable to the richer in England.
Ivan Milat, (1944–2019) convicted of the murder of seven young men and women between 1989 and 1993; known as Australia's most prolific serial killer. His crimes are collectively referred to as the "Backpacker murders".
While the vast majority were recaptured, by 1863, forty-seven convicts had made successful escapes and were never found. 2 During the period from 1863 to 1868 the number of escape attempts increased considerably. policeman once said to us, “may escape from the prison, but cannot get out of the prison yard”.
New South Wales, a state in southeast Australia, was founded by the British as a penal colony in 1788. Over the next 80 years, more than 160,000 convicts were transported to Australia from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, in lieu of being given the death penalty.
Until 1782, English convicts were transported to America. However, in 1783 the American War of Independence ended. America refused to accept any more convicts so England had to find somewhere else to send their prisoners. Transportation to New South Wales was the solution.
Thomas was later returned to the prison, but Hannan has been on the run for over sixty years. In 2001, Hannan overtook double killer Leonard Fristoe's record of 45 years and 11 months as a fugitive.
About 20,000 or 12.3% of the convicts transported to Australia were women.
A desperate escape attempt occurred on 25 January 1859 soon after construction of the Convict Establishment was completed. Peter Campbell, Henry Stevens, John Haynes, John William and Stephen Lacey who were on a work party in Fremantle absconded into the bush and made their way up river to Melville Waters.
Free settlers were moving to Australia, and convicts were increasingly employed to work for them. As convicts either finished their sentence, or were pardoned, they were able to earn a living and sustain themselves through jobs and land grants.
1. Gina Rinehart, $37.41 billion (up $3.39 billion) Another year, another Rich List crowning Gina Rinehart as Australia's wealthiest person. 2023 marks the fourth consecutive year the mining magnate has held that mantle.
Introduction. According to data from Forbes, the United States has the highest number of billionaires in the world with a total of 724 billionaires. This is followed by China with 698 billionaires and India with 237 billionaires.
By far the most common crime that led to transportation was petty theft or larceny. Historians estimate that roughly a third to three-fifths of the male convict population came under the category of 'other larcenies'.
Amarjeet Sada: The Eight-Year-Old 'Sadist' Who Became The World's Youngest Serial Killer.
Christa Gail Pike (born March 10, 1976) is an American convicted murderer, and the youngest woman to be sentenced to death in the United States during the post-Furman period. She was 20 when convicted of the torture murder of her classmate Colleen Slemmer, which she committed at age 18. Durham, North Carolina, U.S.
Convict women were assigned as domestic labour, and were encouraged to reform though a system of rewards and indulgences, such as the ticket-of-leave, which permitted the holder to work for any employer for wages and to choose her own residence.
British settlement of Australia began as a penal colony governed by a captain of the Royal Navy. Until the 1850s, when local forces began to be recruited, British regular troops garrisoned the colonies with little local assistance.
James Cook was the first recorded explorer to land on the east coast in 1770.