There was a riot at the
Factory in February 1831. Many of the participants were sent to
Newcastle (28 women), very soon afterwards. This must have stretched the
facilities to the maximum. It would be interesting to know the
reaction of surgeon George Brooks when these recalcitrant and defiant
women began arriving. They had been sentenced to three years
transportation to a penal settlement however under orders of George
Brooks, most had been assigned to private service in Newcastle and Maitland by September of that
year.
Convict
labour was used in the coal mines in Newcastle. This image - a rare
brass button from the work clothes of a convict in the 1830's is part of
the Migration Heritage Centre Exhibition....read more
Clothing for convicts was
supplied by the government. This yellow and black convict jacket was
made of Parramatta cloth and in use in the 1840's....read
more
Read about Australian colonial & convict clothing in
Margaret Maynard's 'Fashioned From Penury: Dress as a Cultural Practice'....read
more
Did 'your' convict arrive before 1805? This pamphlet
compiled by Dr. Stephen Gapps describes what convicts may have been
wearing at this time....
read more
Click arrows
Convict
Conditions
1827
Read
Robert Dawson's description of convict living conditions in
THE PRESENT STATE OF
AUSTRALIA.
Published in 1830......here
Find out more about Convict coal miners at
the penal settlement at Newcastle in the years 1801-1830....here
Select
here to
read an account of The life of convict 'Michael Keane' who was
first recruited as a soldier before being sentenced to
transportation. He claimed to have received 7250 lashes during
his life and referred to himself as a BOTANY BAY HERO.
Convict James Hardy Vaux' vocabulary of the ‘Flash Language’ was compiled in
Newcastle during the years 1811-1814. Newcastle University Archivist Gionni Di
Gravio discusses the autobiography of convict, author and scallywag charmer
James Hardy Vaux.....read
more
Notes on 169 convicts who arrived in the 'Royal Sovereign in 1835....
Australia's well known
convict poet Francis McNamara 'Frank The Poet' arrived on the 'Eliza'
convict transport in 1832....select
here
to read his poem 'For the Company Under Ground'.
