What was life like in England before the convicts came to Australia?

Answer 1

Conditions in England in the 18th century, prior to the First Fleet, were tough: the industrial revolution had made it harder for people to earn an honest wage as simpler tasks were replaced by machine labour. Unemployment rose, and consequently, so did crime, especially the theft of basic necessities such as food and clothing. The authorities elected to clamp down heavily on people for minor penalties, hoping to stem the tide of rising crime. This is why there were so many convicts who were sent to outlying colonies.

Answer 2

Australia was very strange for the people of the First Fleet. When the first European settlers arrived in Australia, they found a hot, humid country. The bushland was thick and unlike anything they had at home - instead of green, grassy hills and green trees, they found rocky terrain and strange, grey-green trees that smelled strong and sweet. There was an eerieness to the bushland, because it seemed all the same to their inexperienced eyes, and stories of the Aborigines were exaggerated to make the convicts fear stepping outside the camps. Any who did escape quickly became lost, and many convict bones lie scattered in the bush where they became hopelessly lost, and unable to fend for themselves.

The heat and humidity made it difficult to motivate the convicts to work, and English tools and implements were unusable in the tough Australian soil. There were strange hopping animals - the 'kangaroo' - and strange, noisy birds such as the kookaburra and cockatoos.

One of the worst things in the early years was the lack of food. For several years, the new colony in New South Wales struggled with a severe food shortage, as the crops did not grow. To begin with, the seeds brought from England either rotted on the ships because of the sea air, or were eaten by rats. Those that remained just did not grow in the Australian soil which, though it supported abundant native flora, was not suited to English seeds. The tools brought from England also broke in the hard soil, so planting was almost impossible. It wasn't until a successful barley crop was harvested in 1790 that food shortages were alleviated.

Answer 3

The convicts were housed on ship hulks, and taken ashore to work.