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MORETON BAY CONVICT GAOL
Governor Brisbane to search for new penal establishment. On the 23rd October 1823 Oxley left Sydney in search of new settlement and surveys Moreton Bay on the 25th November of that year. On 12th September 1824, Moreton Bay Settlement was established and the location of Humpybong, Redcliffe had been chosen as the site, but proved to be infested with malarial mosquitoes and difficult to defend. -
ARRIVING IN AUSTRALIA
The First Fleet of 11 ships, each one no larger than a Manly ferry, left Portsmouth in 1787 with more than 1480 men, women and children onboard. Although most were British, there were also African, American and French convicts. After a voyage of three months the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay on 24 January 1788. -
FIRST FLEET SETTLING INTO AUSTRALIA
A few days after arrival at Botany Bay the fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788. This date later became Australia's national day, Australia Day. The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. -
WHERE CONVICTS SLEPT
At night, they were locked up in small wooden huts behind stockades. Worse than the cat or chain gangs was transportation to harsher and more remote penal settlements in Norfolk Island, Port Macquarie and Moreton Bay. -
GOVERNOR PHILLIP GETS SPEARED
Governor Phillip was speared by one of the native warriors for punishment. The spearing was for revenge as the aboriginal did it because of the taking of one their tribe was taken. We know its revenge as the spear the Aboriginal used was not designed to instantly kill. -
FAMINE
Between 1789 and 1791, the colony at Sydney Cove was critically short of food. To make matters worse, the supply ship HMS Guardian was wrecked off South Africa before it reached the colony, and HMS Sirius, one of two of the colony’s navy vessels, was wrecked on Norfolk Island. In desperation, the HMS Supply, the Colony’s second navy ship, was sent to Indonesia for food. -
VICTORIAN CONVICTS
Although there was no direct transportation of convicts to Port Phillip, convicts were brought into the colony by various means at various times. David Collin's party, which settled at Sorrento in 1803, included some 300 male convicts, one of whom achieved notoriety as the Wild White Man, the escaped convict William Buckley (see separate box below). -
A CASTLE HILL REBELLION
The Castle Hill Rebellion of 1804 was Australia’s first uprising. The rebellion was an attempt by a group of Irish convicts to overthrow British rule in New South Wales and return to Ireland where they could continue to fight for an Irish republic. Ending in disaster, the ill-fated rebellion resulted in the death of at least 39 convicts in both ‘Australia’s Battle of Vinegar Hill’ itself and ensuing martial law punishments. -
HOBART COLONY
Hobart was established in 1804 at the mouth of the Derwent River, a year after Tasmania’s first settlement at nearby Risdon Cove. Only a collection of tents and huts then, its population consisted of 178 convicts, 25 Royal Navy marines, 15 women, 21 children, 13 free settlers, and 10 civil officers -
A DICOVERY OF GOLD
The first discovery of gold was made in 1823 but Governer Bligh said to keep it secret because the convicts would slit their heads at night because they would want gold -
COLONY OF BRIBANE
Penal Colony and Early Settlement History. During some of the earliest chapters of Australian exploration, it was decided that a second penal colony should be established at Redcliffe in 1824 to house the most recalcitrant of Sydney's convicts. It was moved to the site of Brisbane the following year. -
RICHMOND GAOL
The Richmond Gaol is a convict era building and tourist attraction in Richmond, Tasmania, and is the oldest intact gaol in Australia. Building of the gaol commenced in 1825, and predates the establishment of the penal colony at Port Arthur in 1833. -
KING GEORGES SOUND SETTLEMENT
Due to the presence of French survey ships in the seas around the Colony of New South Wales, it was feared France may lay claim and settle the deserted West Coast of New Holland, motivating the British Government to consider establishing settlements there to protect its interests (1). -
CAPTAIN LOGAN REACHES HIS DEATH
(1791 – October 1830) was the commandant of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement from 1826 until his death in 1830 at the hands of Aboriginal Australians who objected to him entering their lands. As he had been hated by convicts, there were rumours that escaped convicts living in the bush had attacked him,[1] but there is no evidence of this. -
PROCLAINMING SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Light decided that the Adelaide plains were the best location for settlement. Most of the settlers were moved from Kangaroo Island to Holdfast Bay with Governor Hindmarsh arriving on 28 December 1836 to proclaim the province of South Australia.
