South Australia is the only Australian state or colony with no history of convict settlement.
South Australia was the only state in Australia that did not use convict labour. Once convicts were given a free pardon, however, some of them chose to settle in South Australia to start their new life.
Queensland
South Australia and Western Australia were the two Austalian colonies to be settled by free settlers alone, with no convict presence. Only South Australia, however, remained convict-free, as Western Australia campaigned to have convicts to use as free labour about fifteen years after the initial settlement.
During the early years of Australia's colonial settlement, the English used Australia as a dumping ground for their unwanted convicts.
Australia was not settled until 1788. After 1788, convicts, if they cared about the time of day at all, would only have cared about meal times and knock-off time.
As a Church of England clergyman, Marsden had an intense dislike of Catholics. In Australia he became a magistrate and a successful farmer, able to use the free work of convicts on his farm.
When the English first colonised Australia, they used it as a place to send their excess prisoners: in other words, Australia was originally established as a penal colony for British convicts. When the North American colonies refused to accept any more prisoners, the great continent in the southern hemisphere had considerable appeal as a prison from which convicts were unlikely to return. There were also many resources in Australia which the British hoped to utilise, as well as the continent being in a prime strategic position for defensive purposes in the South Pacific.
After the American colonies were no longer viable as venues for convicts following the American War of Independence, the convicts who were sent to Australia were from Great Britain. They included anyone from England, Scotland, Ireland or Wales who was convicted of crimes such as burglary, fraud or petty theft, but not violent crimes such as manslaughter or murder.
Slaves were people who were forced to work without pay and were considered property. Convicts were individuals found guilty of a crime and sentenced to punishment, such as prison time or hard labor. Blackbirders were individuals who coerced or kidnapped people into forced labor, often in the context of the transatlantic slave trade. The key difference between convicts and blackbirders is that convicts were legally sentenced for a crime, whereas blackbirders were involved in illegal and often violent practices of capturing individuals for forced labor.
The convicts who went to Australia were poor. The great majority of them were convicts only because they had been caught stealing basic necessities such as bread, a pie, an item of clothing which they needed. They came from families where the men had been forced put of employment by increasing use of machinery due to the industrial revolution, and where families members were forced to turn to crime just to survive.
Whilst on board the First Fleet, the convicts did not use any tools. They spent a lot of time below decks. Once they arrived in New South Wales, they used shovels, spades and picks to try and plant crops.