Short History of Convict Australia (Full Episode)

Short History of the World explores the sites of Australia’s convict past from the beginning of transportation in the late 18th Century to the present celebrations of Australia Day. The First Fleet of ships carrying 700 convicts left England in 1787. Presenter Ian Wright describes the 15,000 mile voyage from Portsmouth Harbour via Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town to Botany Bay in Australia. Ian looks at how the convicts built up settlements on arrival in Sydney Harbour which was the foundation of European settlement in Australia. From the official papers and chronicles kept at Hyde Park Barracks, Ian traces his own possible convict ancestry. Ian then tries on convict clothes from the period and learns about other forms of identification – tattoos. At The Hero of Waterloo – one of the oldest convict-built pubs – Ian samples convict rum with a local landlord who tells stories of pressgangs and their practice of spiking rum with opium. At Wiseman’s Ferry, outside Sydney, where a section of the convict-built North Road still exists, Ian experiences sleeping conditions in portable cabins which housed the convicts and is told of the ‘Broad Arrow’ Coat of Arms, marked on government tools to deter convicts from stealing them. At the caves surrounding Picton, we are treated to a rendition of a legendary convict folk song about Jack Donohue, one of the many absconding convicts turned bushranger who was shot dead at the age of 21. At the time the folksong was banned as a treason song. Fifteen hundred miles off the coast of New South Wales is Norfolk Island. Convict expert John Adams explains how the prison built here in 1825 was meant to act as a deterrent. Conditions were so bad that convicts would commit mass suicide rather than face the brutality of the prison guards. Ian visits the site of the ‘Model Prison’ at Port Arthur on the tip of Tasmania’s isolated Tasman Peninsula. Here he finds out about the experimental punishments that were intended to ‘break the convict spirit’ and consequently turn the men into model citizens. Historian Peter McFie describes how the convicts were allowed to express no form of communication except for singing in the chapel and were forced to wear masks so they would be unable to recognise each other. In nearby Koonya Ian braves a convict breakfast, known as skilly, made up of oatmeal and bits of dried meat. At Maquarrie Harbour, on Tasmania’s West Coast, Ian learns about bizarre escape attempts from this remote convict outpost. In Oatlands Ian meets convict descendants who describe how over the years their families disguised their convict ancestry to avoid the prejudice associated with convictry. They explain that it is only recently that Australians have begun to accept and enjoy their convict history. Finally at Launceston, Ian discovers the flag of the Anti-Transportation League. The flag is similar to one which still represents the nation today and is a permanent reminder of Australia’s convict past.