England had a surplus labour problem in the 1700's thanks largely to land reform that privatised common lands, and better farming techniques that improved productivity. The end result was a population boom and idle hands in the countryside. Subsistence farming was no longer a viable way to make a living, and many peasants poured into cities looking for work. This time was also the start of the industrial revolution, and factories were built in the cities. But this surplus labour drove down wages, and many still struggled to make a living in crowded cities. Theft was on the rise. The government reacted by getting tough on crime, and for awhile making theft above a minor amount punishable by death. But this approach didn't seem to have the deterrent effect intended. In any case, influential citizens no longer considered the death penalty for petty crimes humane or appropriate. So the jails started to fill up. Eventually the government started transporting convicts to the colonies. This served many purposes, including relieving the pressure on overcrowded jails, providing forced labour to expanding colonies, and providing an avenue to rehabilitate prisoners.
Convicts were shipped throughout the British colonies, and many were sent to America, until the American Revolution removed that option. Then in the 1780's, ten years after the explorer James Cook visited the east coast of Australia, the first convict transports were sent to Botany Bay, near what is now Sydney. Over a thousand prisoner ships were sent to Australia over the next 70 years, and many arrived in Sydney. In the 1820's over 85% of Sydney's population of 12,000 were emancipated criminals, who had served out their sentences, typically seven or 14 years. Today around 20% of Sydney's population of 4.5 million are thought to have a convict in their lineage.
In the museum we learned about life for convicts in the early 1800's. I didn't realize this, but convicts were not incarcerated upon arrival, but were instead employed as labour by the government or by private citizens. In many cases the private citizens were emancipated ex-convicts. The convicts could even earn their own money on Saturday. The best plan for a newly arriving convict, if he had a skill, was to hide that fact on the way over. That way he could avoid providing his skills for free as forced labour and instead use them for profit on Saturdays. The barracks building was mostly just used to provide room and board for convicts who hadn't yet found room and board in the town for whatever reason. Even the building itself shows how vital a role convicts played in building Sydney. The building was designed by a convict architect and built with convict labour in 1820.
The barracks must have been influenced by naval traditions, since we saw how the men slept in hammocks all packed together on the top floor, and we learned how the men were formed into messes to organize and cook their own rations, including salted meat. In one room there was a list of the convicts living in the barracks in 1821. We noticed there was one William Turnbull, age 36, who was a wood turner, and was serving a seven year sentence. It didn't say what his crime was though. The youngest person on the list was 13 years old, and had stolen a watch.
There was a poignant memorial outside the museum to the Great Hunger, the Irish potato famine in the 1840's which lead to the transportation of 4,000 young women to Australia. The memorial consisted of a wall with a table and stool, with no food on the plate.
The kids enjoyed the museum too, since many of the exhibits were hands on, like lying in a hammock, wearing prison clothing, or trying on leg irons. The barracks served many purposes after the convicts stopped coming here in the 1840's. In the late 1800's it was a waypoint for young women, who arrived and were quickly employed as domestic servants or in other trades.
Here's Elizabeth wearing a costume from this time period.
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