Australian History For Dummies. Alex McDermott
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The British East India Company’s monopoly was looking likely to end: For most of the 18th century, this company had enjoyed a monopoly over all trade that went back to Britain from India and the entire region that lay beyond, as they came to exercise an often regal-type power in that part of the world. For trading companies and shipping agencies not directly aligned with the company, this monopoly was a profound disincentive for moving operations into the Pacific. The monopoly was widely expected to be terminated in the early 1790s, however, allowing a rush of new trading shipping interest into the area.
The French were still an enemy to be feared: The French and British had an animosity that went back centuries (Joan of Arc, anyone?) but in the second half of the 18th century, Britain and France were locked in an intense battle for global supremacy that often sparked wars. The British Ambassador in Paris in the summer of 1785 reported worrying rumours that the French scientific expedition about to set off under comte de La Pérouse was going to be instructed to establish a convict settlement in New Zealand to take advantage of the pines reputed to be there. Interest in the Pacific and New Holland as a strategic resource was on the rise in the other major player in world affairs.
In 1786, George III declared to the House of Commons that his government and prime minister would soon transport ‘a number of convicts’ to Botany Bay in order to relieve ‘the crowded state of the gaols’.
SHAPING AUSTRALIA WITH TWO BIG DECISIONS
In 1780s London, two decisions would have gob-smackingly enormous consequences for the sort of country Australia would become.
The first big decision is fairly obvious — deciding to establish a colony for trading, and for strategic and convict transportation purposes on the Australian continent. When you consider levels of subsequent impact from particular decisions, that’s about as big as it gets, really.
The second big decision, though, was also far-reaching, even if at first glance it seems more subtle. It was a decision made by the minister in charge of the arrangements for what sort of settlement this would be.
The government minister was Thomas Townsend — ‘Tommy’ to his mates, but known to history as ‘Lord Sydney’. He raised eyebrows when he decided, quite late in the day as it happened, that the penal colony in NSW would be run according to ordinary civil law rather than as a military society. What this meant was that the law that would operate here would recognise all the usual rights and liberties outlined in English law at home. In comparison to most places in the world at the time, an Englishman’s rights and liberties were something to brag about (and they did). This decision meant that NSW would be established as a free society, even if most of the new population arriving were convicts! (Ah, the irony.)
The first ever civil trial to take place after the arrival of the First Fleet, run according to the rules of an ordinary English court, was brought by a young convict couple, who sued one of the ship captains for losing their valuable luggage on the journey out. This couple was Henry and Susannah Kable.
They won, too. (See Chapter 4 for more on this couple’s continuing successes in the new colony.)
Sailing for Botany Bay
After the selecting of the site came the settling. Organising and equipping a party to settle a colony in a part of the world that had been seen once some 15 years previously meant a lot of planning and preparation had to be done. Aside from getting there, the British had the question of exactly who they would take as first settlers. One suggestion was to send American colonists who had stayed loyal to Britain in the American War of Independence. In the end, they went with convicted criminals (for reasons explained in the preceding section). Exactly what sort of people these convicted criminals were, however, is another matter.
Getting there with the First Fleet
The actual getting to NSW and the initial settling in was remarkably trouble-free, thanks in large part to the expedition’s leader, Captain Arthur Phillip, carefully overseeing preparations. The government responded seriously to his demands that this long voyage, bigger than any large-scale journey and relocation ever before attempted, should be fitted out properly. When the ships of what we now call the ‘First Fleet’ finally got underway in May 1787, no-one could say it was a slap-dash affair.
The ships were of good quality and sturdy. Fresh provisions were laid in during the weeks prior to the fleet’s departure. No callous disregard for convicts’ welfare was shown, with one observer going so far as to complain that the weekly rations were superior to what ordinary sailors would generally receive. The convicts themselves were selected on the basis of good health (and possibly youth). As many mechanics and farm hands as could be found were strategically selected by the government.
Botany Bay, contrary to Banks’s suavely confident predictions (refer to the ‘Pushing for a settlement in NSW’ section, earlier in this chapter), was not suitable for settlement — the bay was too open and the land without good fresh water — and they soon relocated to Sydney Cove, in Port Jackson, where modern-day Sydney now stands.
The human material: Who were these people?
The First Fleet had arrived in NSW. So far so good. But now the hard work began. What sort of material did Captain Phillip have to work with here? Well. The human material wasn’t great, actually. While convicts arriving in early NSW were a mixed bag — including first-time offenders, ‘fall guys’, people in regular work, and those from the country and from Ireland (who were often transported for nothing much at all) — the main core of the convicts were career crims.
Most of the convicts under Phillip’s charge, and the bulk of convicts for the subsequent decades, were predominantly from urban areas, and many were from the criminal subculture. Through the 18th century, people had moved (or been moved) off the land and away from the traditional rural order, and many had drifted into the major cities. As the town populations burgeoned, so too did the criminal underworld, and