Annotated Assignment : Fremantle Prison

The convicts did not follow this conduct and most believed that the Australian natives were ‘barely human’ (MacDougall .A.K 2004). The population ratio of British settlers in Australia to the natives, drastically altered over the century in the result of rapid colonisation and the conflicts which the Commonwealth of Australia Official Year Books explicitly depicts. The British settlers came in masses bringing a new society and culture to the land. The indigenous people were not familiar with an individual possession society and believed that the stock on the land was to be hunted and used as a food source. This is epitomised in a letter sent to the editor of The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser by Daniel Eaton in 1838, stating that ‘five horses [were] killed, and four others were wounded… a hundred head of cattle killed and the flocks and herds were driven away in all directions by the blacks’ (Convict Creations, 2013). Newspapers from the time showed that the British reacted to the natives by killing them off the land and believed that the ‘Natives should be slaughtered…[because] they are baboons, blood thirsty dogs and black animals’ (Stewart D,1986). The British were not interested in negotiating with the natives of the land and believed their culture was inhuman wasting the land. Governor Gawler stated in a newspaper article, ‘Black men- we wish to make you happy, but you cannot be

The history of prison can go back to ancient times; it can be traced to the time

Australia was first claimed by Captain Cook in early 1770, but it wasn’t settled until 1788 when the first fleet of 11 ships arrived at Botany Bay, carrying 1,530 passengers - mostly convicts, as well as some marines and officers. They moved to Port Jackson to begin establishing a settlement. Specific prisoners were chosen for the trip, the ones with skills in building, farming and other things that would have been useful to create a “liveable” environment for the new inhabitants. The first “free” settlers only arrived in 1793, thus beginning the colonisation of New South Wales.

Throughout the years, the use of imprisonment has varied, along with its influences of society. It is thought that although prisons have been around since the thirteenth century, prisons as we know them now to be have only been around for the last three centuries. The first uses of prisons were not seen as a form of punishment instead they were used as a way of making people do something. People would be held in prison until they paid their debts, or awaiting trial and then leading up to their sentence. McGowen (1995) suggests that from the early 1700s ‘bridewells’ a house of correction have existed, however at that time being used merely for vagrants and drunks. At the end of the sixteenth century there was a shift in punishment to imprisonment, along with this came a new, more humane idea of reform. Criminals would spend their days of prison carrying out hard labour. However after the American Revolution, imprisonment took a step back and there was another change. There was mass overcrowding within the prison service and although the death penalty was still being used it was a symbol of the power of the state. Therefore, an everyday way of dealing with offenders would be transportation to the colonies, being either Australia or America.

For over centuries, the only form of punishment and discouragement for humans is through the prison system. Because of this, these humans or inmates, are sentenced to spend a significant part of their life in a confined, small room. With that being said, the prison life can leave a remarkable toll on the inmates life in many different categories. The first and arguably most important comes in the form of mental health. Living in prison with have a great impact on the psychological part of your life. For example, The prison life is a very much different way of life than what us “normal” humans are accustomed to living in our society. Once that inmate takes their first step inside their new society, their whole mindset on how to live and communicate changes. The inmate’s psychological beliefs about what is right and wrong are in questioned as well as everything else they learned in the outside world. In a way, prison is a never ending mind game you are playing against yourself with no chance of wining. Other than the mental aspect of prison, family plays a very important role in an inmate’s sentence. Family can be the “make it or break it” deal for a lot of inmates. It is often said that “when a person gets sentenced to prison, the whole family serves the sentence.” Well, for many inmates that is the exact case. While that prisoner serves their time behind bars, their family is on the outside waiting in anticipation for their loved ones to be released. In a way, the families

The social views towards Aboriginal people portrayed in the film are far more destructive than those in the novel. In the time period of the film, 1931, the Chief Protector of Aboriginals in Western Australia, A.O. Neville, strongly believes in trying to ‘breed out’ the Aboriginal blood by forcibly removing half-caste children, who are half Aboriginal and half European from their homes and putting them in institutions such as Moore River Settlement in order to stop them from marrying members of their own race. The underlying purpose of ‘Moore River Settlement’ becomes especially clear when Neville explains to potential sponsors of the facility “the continual infiltration of blood will be bred out….in spite of himself, the native must be helped”. This mindset about Native Australians and the idea of trying to eliminate them for their own benefit is of great contrast to the one presented in the novel.

Rachel was sent to the Australian colony after being lied to by her former lover and almost being sentenced to death after being accused of theft. Due to her experiences Rachel finds it rightfully difficult to trust the men around her. ““She smiled down at her son, peering over her shoulder at the harbour’s bustle, then quickly wiped the smile away, looking down at the ground in case any man thought the smile was encouragement. There was no protection for a woman in New South Wales, not from the convicts or soldiers of the Rum Corps.” Colonial Australia was incredibly dangerous for a woman to live in. While in Australia Rachel was constantly surrounded by violent or drunk convicts who saw her as no more than a pretty object. Even after she has found safety in Surgeon White he soon leaves her for his home in England. “For the first time rage filled her. He was taking an o’possum but not her! You could boast of a pet o’possum, but not of a convict wife. He was leaving her, imprisoned even though she had no ball and chain around her leg, held in a prison colony across the world.” this creates both contrast and comparison between Australia and a jail. Both places are used to trap and confine people, in different, and yet similar

Did you know Australia use to be a big prison? Australia is the 6th largest continent. Australia is the only continent covered by a single country. In Australia there are more kangaroo’s than people. A person in Australia hasn’t died from a spider bite since 1987. The top ten deadliest snakes live in Australia. There are over 200 different languages which are spoken in Australia. This includes 45 languages, as well non-English languages like Greek, Italian, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Arabic. A desert area known as the outback covers much of the land.

The ideal of imprisonment did not exist during the colonial time. The penitentiary system was a nineteenth-century invention. The colonial, period was hierarchical, and the servants were supposed to be kept in place.

It was a hard life for most people that were on the first fleet going to Australia. Convicts could either start a new life or leave back to there home. Officers could leave whenever they want or they could stay and the aborigines had no choice, but to move or be killed. The settlement of Australia was both a beginning and end for convicts.

The working conditions that the convicts in early colonial Australia had to endure were incredibly severe. The working environment that the convicts suffered is evidence of the brutality that existed. Many off the convicts that arrived in Sydney had

In this essay I will be looking at the key developments of the British penal system since the early nineteenth century. I will also discuss how the main objectives of the prison system have changed over this period of time.

After John Howard became the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, England in 1773 he stumbled upon the harsh truth that the prison system under his command was a vivid resemblance to that of a torture dungeon. Upon further investigation, Howard realized that prisons throughout England were were exactly the same, in which prisoners were crowded together, chained and locked into dark chambers, light and oxygen deprived, given no water, and preyed upon by many other Jailors, who were in charge of running the prisons serving as prison guards. Howard further went out of his way to observe the prison systems in other European countries such as Holland, Belgium, and Italy, in which he found that their prison systems were totally different as they originated with the philosophy

The state prisons today were founded on the basis of the 1700s to 1800’s during the Age of Enlightenment. The English correctional facility referred to as a “gaol,” commonly known as a jail. They housed men, women, children, the mentally ill along with the civil and criminals. The individuals suffered from idleness, diseases, despair and malnutrition. The gaols were maintained by local authorities, classification did not exist, and the purpose of gaol was to detain or hold people for court.

Most of all Australians living in Australia today have once been apart of the movement of people, some may have migrated here some may have moved here millions of years ago but one fascinating area of study is the movement of convicts. Convicts that adventured out to Australia in 1978 to 1798 was a British idea to colonies Australia and fixed the problem’s in England at the time. These issues were brought upon by the Industrial revolution, as rising prison population led to the government at the time resolving it, by the transportation of criminals to Australia. This is were the story of colonization of our great country begins. So welcome to the Convicts exhibition were we will look at primary and secondary sources that pushed and pulled