Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 161,700 convicts (of whom 25,000 were women) were transported to the Australian colonies of New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land and Western Australia. Historian Lloyd Robson has estimated that perhaps two-thirds were thieves from working class towns, particularly from the Midlands and north of England. The majority were repeat offenders. The literacy rate of convicts was above average and they brought a range of useful skills to the new colony including building, farming, sailing, fishing and hunting. The small number of free settlers meant that early governors also had to rely on convicts and emancipists for professions such as lawyers, architects, surveyors and teachers.
The first governors saw New South Wales as a place of punishment and reform of convicts. Convicts worked on government farms and public works such as land clearing and building. After 1792 the majority were assigned to work for private employers including emancipists (as transported convicts who had completed their sentence or had been pardoned called themselves). Emancipists were granted small plots of land for farming and a year of government rations. Later they were assigned convict labour to help them work their farms. Some convicts were assigned to military officers to run their businesses because the officers did not want to be directly associated with trade. These convicts learnt commercial skills which could help them work for themselves when their sentence ended or they were granted a "ticket of leave" (a form of parole).[74] Female convicts were usually assigned as domestic servants to the free settlers, many being forced into prostitution.
Convicts soon established a system of piece work which allowed them to work for wages once their allocated tasks were completed. Due to the shortage of labour, wage rates before 1815 were high for male workers although much lower for females engaged in domestic work. In 1814, Governor Macquarie ordered that convicts had to work until 3pm, after which private employers had to pay them wages for any additional work.
By 1821 convicts, emancipists and their children owned two-thirds of the land under cultivation, half the cattle and one-third of the sheep. They also worked in trades and small business. Emancipists employed about half of the convicts assigned to private masters.
After 1815 wages and employment opportunities for convicts and emancipists deteriorated as a sharp increase in the number of convicts transported led to an oversupply of labour. A series of reforms recommended by J. T. Bigge in 1822 and 1823 also sought to change the nature of the colony and make transportation "an object of real terror". The food ration for convicts was cut and their opportunities to work for wages restricted. More convicts were assigned to rural work gangs, bureaucratic control and surveillance of convicts was made more systematic, isolated penal settlements were established as places of secondary punishment, the rules for tickets of leave were tightened, and land grants were skewed to favour free settlers with large capital. As a result, convicts who arrived after 1820 were far less likely to become property owners, to marry, and to establish families.
Growth of free settlement
The Bigge reforms also aimed to encourage affluent free settlers by offering them land grants for farming and grazing in proportion to their capital. From 1831 the colonies replaced land grants with land sales by auction at a fixed minimum price per acre, the proceeds being used to fund the assisted migration of workers. From 1821 to 1850 Australia attracted 200,000 immigrants from the United Kingdom. Although most immigrants settled in towns, many were attracted to the high wages and business opportunities available in rural areas. However, the system of land grants, and later land sales, led to the concentration of land in the hands of a small number of affluent settlers.
Two-thirds of the migrants to Australia during this period received assistance from the British or colonial governments. Healthy young workers without dependants were favoured for assisted migration, especially those with experience as agricultural labourers or domestic workers. Families of convicts were also offered free passage and about 3,500 migrants were selected under the English Poor Laws. Various special-purpose and charitable schemes, such as those of Caroline Chisholm and John Dunmore Lang, also provided migration assistance.
Između 1788. i 1868. godine, oko 161.700 osuđenika (od kojih su 25.000 bile žene) prevezeno je u australijske kolonije Novog Južnog Velsa, Van Diemenove zemlje i Zapadne Australije. Istoričar Lojd Robson je procenio da su možda dve trećine bili lopovi iz gradova radničke klase, posebno iz Midlandsa i severne Engleske. Većina su bili ponovljeni prestupnici. Stopa pismenosti osuđenika bila je iznad proseka i oni su doneli niz korisnih veština u novu koloniju, uključujući izgradnju, poljoprivredu, jedrenje, ribolov i lov. Mali broj slobodnih doseljenika značilo je da su rani guverneri takođe morali da se oslanjaju na osuđenike i emancipiste za profesije kao što su advokati, arhitekte, geodeti i nastavnici.
Prvi guverneri videli su Novi Južni Vels kao mesto kažnjavanja i reforme osuđenika. Osuđenici su radili na državnim farmama i javnim radovima kao što su čišćenje zemljišta i izgradnja. Posle 1792. godine većina je bila raspoređena za rad za privatne poslodavce, uključujući emancipiste (kako su se zvali transportovani osuđenici koji su odslužili kaznu ili su bili pomilovani). Emancipisti su dobili male parcele za poljoprivredu i godinu dana vladinih obroka. Kasnije su im dodeljeni osuđeni rad da im pomogne da rade svoje farme. Neki osuđenici su dodeljeni vojnim oficirima da vode svoje poslove, jer oficiri nisu želeli da budu direktno povezani sa trgovinom. Ovi osuđenici su naučili komercijalne veštine koje bi im mogle pomoći da rade za sebe kada im je kazna završila ili im je odobrena "karta odsustva" (oblik uslovnog otpusta). Osuđenice su obično dodeljene kao kućne sluge slobodnim doseljenicima, a mnoge su bile prisiljene na prostituciju.
Osuđenici su ubrzo uspostavili sistem rada po jedinici mere koji im je omogućio da rade za plate nakon što su završeni njihovi dodeljeni zadaci. Zbog nedostatka radne snage, stope plata pre 1815. godine bile su visoke za muške radnike, iako mnogo niže za žene koje se bave domaćim radom. Godine 1814. guverner Mackuarie naredio je da osuđenici moraju da rade do 15 sati, nakon čega su privatni poslodavci morali da im isplaćuju plate za bilo koji dodatni rad.
Do 1821. osuđenici, emancipisti i njihova deca posedovali su dve trećine zemljišta pod obradom, polovinu stoke i jednu trećinu ovaca. Oni su takođe radili u trgovini i malom biznisu. Emancipisti su zapošljavali oko polovine osuđenika dodeljenih privatnim gospodarima. Posle 1815 plate i mogućnosti zapošljavanja za osuđenike i emancipista pogoršala kao nagli porast broja osuđenika prevezenih dovelo do prevelike ponude radne snage. Niz reformi koje je preporučio J. T. Bigge 1822. i 1823. godine takođe je nastojao da promeni prirodu kolonije i učini transport "predmetom pravog terora". Obrok hrane za osuđenike je smanjen i njihove mogućnosti da rade za plate ograničene. Više osuđenika je raspoređeno u seoske radne grupe, birokratska kontrola i nadzor osuđenika je sistematična, izolovana kaznena naselja su uspostavljena kao mesta sekundarnog kažnjavanja, pravila za karte za odsustvo su pooštrena, a zemljišni grantovi su iskrivljeni u korist slobodnih doseljenika sa velikim kapitalom. Kao rezultat toga, osuđenici koji su stigli posle 1820 su imali daleko manje šanse da postanu vlasnici imovine, da se udaju/zene, i da uspostave porodice.
Rast slobodnog naselja
Bigge reforme su takođe imale za cilj da podstaknu bogate slobodne doseljenike nudeći im zemljišne grantove za poljoprivredu i ispašu u srazmeri sa njihovim kapitalom. Od 1831. kolonije su zamenile zemljišne grantove sa prodajom zemljišta na aukciji po fiksnoj minimalnoj ceni po hektaru, a prihodi se koriste za finansiranje potpomognute migracije radnika. Od 1821. do 1850. godine Australija je privukla 200.000 imigranata iz Velike Britanije. Iako je većina imigranata naselili u gradovima, mnogi su privukli visoke plate i poslovne mogućnosti na raspolaganju u ruralnim područjima. Međutim, sistem zemljišnih grantova, a kasnije i prodaje zemljišta, doveo je do koncentracije zemljišta u rukama malog broja bogatih doseljenika.
Dve trećine migranata u Australiju tokom ovog perioda dobilo je pomoć od britanske ili kolonijalne vlade. Zdravi mladi radnici bez izdržavanih osoba bili su favorizovani za potpomognutu migraciju, posebno oni sa iskustvom poljoprivrednih radnika ili domaćih radnika. Porodicama osuđenika je takođe ponuđen slobodan prolaz, a oko 3.500 migranata je izabrano prema engleskim zakonima o siromašnima. Razne posebne namene i dobrotvorne šeme, kao što su one Caroline Chisholm i John Dunmore Lang, takođe pružaju pomoć migracijama.