contemporaries. Gender nor age discouraged the use of transportation to rid Britain and Ireland of their unwanted miscreants, so anyone convicted of a crime over the age of nine years old was eligible for transportation. Thus, male and female prisoners of all ages were destined to board hulks bound for the newly established penal colonies in modern day Australia. A poem reflecting on the situation women were experiencing onboard ship was penned by Thomas Haynes Bayly I 1834 and is a poignant reminder of the wide range of women that became part of the transportation system and the hardships and hazards they endured.
However, it was women who faced the daunting reality of life on a remote island where most inhabitants were male and escape was impossible. In fact, it was the potential to keep prisoners from escaping that …show more content…
Australia was not just one large penal colony, it was a network of penal systems with each having a defined purpose of reform or punishment. The degree of harshness the prisoners would experience at each penal colony depended on many factors, such location, leadership style of the acting governor, as well as prevailing reforms passed in Britain. Before convicts reached their final destination, they had to endure an arduous journey that took approximately nine months. The first ships to leave England on May 13, 1787 were under the command of Arthur Phillip and were known as the First Fleet. This flotilla of eleven ships included nearly 1,500 people, of which, over half were convicts (191 female). The female convicts transported to Australia’s penal colonies are often misunderstood and unjustly portrayed as