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Ticket of leave - A document that was given as a reward for good behaviour. It allowed the convict that received it to work for themselves. This meant they could own the things they produce and get paid for labour.

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Assigned Convicts - Convicts that have been assigned a specific role in the settlement.

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Southern Midlands Council. (n.d.). The chain gang, North of York Plains turnoff. [online] Available at: https://www.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au/shadows-chaingang/.

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A desperate lot!

There was a lot to do to build the colony of Van Diemen's Land. Convicts with skills were in high demand and were often assigned to wealthy landowners and treated quite well. Convicts without special skills were relegated to road gangs. Doing time with the notorious chain gang was not a normal experience for convicts. The chain gang was an 1826 colonial innovation designed to break the spirit of those who were insolent or questioned authority. Men were made to break rocks and dig ditches with their ankles chained together. The greater the punishment, the shorter was the chain. The pain was excruciating. The threat of the chain gang helped to keep the convicts in line.

In the penal settlement of Van Diemen's Land, the reality for most convicts did not conform to today's stereotyped images of men in broad-arrow stamped clothes, dragging a ball and chain, working on road gangs and receiving lashes. Whilst this was the experience of some, the overwhelming majority of convicts were assigned to work for landowners who had been granted land across the island. The arrows on clothes simply meant government-issue. Their rations were generous and many married or settled down and raised families. There were no bars on their windows; they lived in cottages, not cells.

The colonial labour market was reliant on the skills of the convicts. Carpenters, masons, bricklayers, mechanics, blacksmiths, sawyers, wheelwrights and coopers were particularly valued. Their masters' reliance on their practical abilities gave skilled convicts more power in the bargain for indulgences. Minor transgressions, such as drunkenness, were often tolerated for fear that the magistrate would reassign the accused convict to another property.

Convicts with no skills were relegated to the work gangs, building the roads and bridges that connected the settlements that were being established across the island.

Where the stereotypical image of the convict did hold true was on the chain gang. The penal system in the early 1820s was based on the belief that harsh punishment was the key to reforming the criminal classes. In 1826, under Lieutenant-Governor Arthur's authority, the chain gang was trialed as a punishment. It was invented especially for convicts and men with tickets-of-leave who dared to be insolent or question authority. The method was found to be effective in curbing recalcitrant behaviour and became an integral part of the punishment system. Soldiers, rather than convict overseers, guarded the men on the chain gangs. 'Never were men better worked, better flogged and better managed that they were in the gang'.

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The chain gang, North of York Plains turnoff | Southern Midlands Council

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A desperate lot! There was a lot to do to build the colony of Van Diemen's Land. Convicts with skills were in high demand and were often assigned to wealthy landowners and treated quite well. Convicts without special skills were relegated to road gangs.

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www.britannica.com. (n.d.). Chain gang Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/chain-gang [Accessed 20 Feb. 2024].

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Chain gang Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary

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CHAIN GANG meaning: a group of prisoners who are chained together while they do work outside the prison

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Chain gangs - A form of punishment in which prisoners were chained together and forced to do backbreaking labour. They were first introduced in around 1826. They worse the crime, the shorter they would make the chains, makeing they work that much more painful and difficult.

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National Museum of Australia (2022). National Museum of Australia - Convict transportation peaks. [online] www.nma.gov.au. Available at: https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/convict-transportation-peaks.

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Convicts and the establishment of New South Wales

Governor Phillip instituted a system where convicts were employed according to their skills.

Convicts provided the labour that built the young colony's roads, bridges and public buildings, but free settlers could also petition the government to assign convicts to work on their farms.

The first free settlers arrived in New South Wales in 1793 but convicts remained in the majority until the great influx of people lured by the gold rushes of the 1850s.

Convict crimes

Convicts were mainly from England and Wales, with a large contingent of Irish (24 per cent) and a much smaller number of Scots (five per cent). Most were sentenced in the rapidly growing cities of Britain, where displaced rural populations struggled to find work in an increasingly industrialised world. Rates of theft increased as people stole food and clothing to survive.

A conviction for robbery of these small items could result in transportation for seven years. About 20 per cent of those convicted were female.

A small proportion of convicts were political prisoners, including Irish home rule insurgents, the unionist Tolpuddle Martyrs, anti-industrialising Luddites, Canadian rebels and political reforming Chartists.

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1833: Convict transportation to Australia peaks when nearly 7,000 people arrive in one year

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Secondary Penal Settlements - Places that crimanals of serious offences were sent to be away from the general population such as Australia or Norfolk Island. THey were often treated badly there and forced to do labour

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From 1788 to 1868, the British exiled around 162,000 to the island of Australia. They were sentenced to a life of stariting a colony. They lived in harsh, dangerous conditions, without any sort of civilization infustructure to start bu tovertime they developed a working society.

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Most convicts only commited petty crimes such as stealing food but were punished harshly. Before Australia was made an option, they were thrown into prison hulks, in which they were chained up all day locked up in dark, dank rusty cells.

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Prison Hulks - Old, decommissioned ships that the British used to house criminals when they ran out of prison space. They were rusty, dark and dangerous. Prisoners were treated horribly causing many to die.

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‌Museums of History NSW. (n.d.). Convict Tickets of Leave. [online] Available at: https://mhnsw.au/guides/convict-tickets-leave/.

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Was, is and always will be ...

Convict discipline depended not only on punishment but also on incentives and rewards. Governor King introduced the ticket of leave system in 1801. It helped reduce costs by allowing those who could support themselves honestly to do so and was also a reward for good behaviour. A ticket of leave allowed convicts to work for themselves on condition that they remained in a specified area, reported regularly to local authorities and if at all possible, attend divine worship every Sunday.

Overview

Incentive for good behaviour

Convict discipline depended not only on punishment but also on incentives and rewards. The best inducement to 'good behaviour was the prospect of a shortening of the convict's period of servitude'. (Hirst, Convict Society, p.33). There were a number of incentives and rewards for good behaviour including tickets of leave, ticket of leave passports, tickets of exemptions from government labour and pardons.

Introduction of the system

Governor King introduced the ticket of leave system in 1801. It helped reduce costs by allowing those who could support themselves honestly to do so. But it was also a reward for good behaviour and in time would become 'the most common form of remission of sentence'. (Hirst, Convict Society, p.53).

Conditions for eligibility

Governor Macquarie specified that at least three years be served before a convict became eligible for any concession, though he was known to break this rule. (Hirst, Convict Society, p.53). Bigge criticised him for behaving too generously and following the appearance of the Commissioner's reports, the minimum requirements for time served were extended and additional checks were introduced to ensure that only the well behaved received tickets.

Changes to eligibility

By a Government Order, dated 1 January 1827, convicts were eligible to be considered for a ticket of leave under the following criteria:

Convicts for 7 years having served 4 years with 1, or 5 years with 2 masters

Convicts for 14 years having served 6 years with 1, and 8 years with 2, or 10 years with 3 masters

Convicts for life having served 8 years with 1, 10 years with 2, or 12 years with 3 masters.

A convict could still be considered eligible, even though the number of masters whom they had served exceeded the number specified above, provided it could clearly be shown that their removal from their place of residence was not occasioned by misconduct. (Plunkett, Australian Magistrate, pp.404-6).

Benefits to convicts

Ticket of leave men, were seen as the elite of the workforce, and before 1821 were often employed as constables and overseers and on becoming free were frequently 'preferred to the man who had served his full term as a convict'. (Hirst, Convict Society, p.102).

Cancellation of tickets

A ticket of leave could be cancelled at any time for a misdemeanour and those who held them did not become free until pardoned or the sentence had expired. A ticket of leave was issued for a specific district in which the holder was to remain. In order to travel outside the district a ticket of leave passport was required.

Ticket of Leave Passports

A prisoner holding a ticket of leave needed to have official permission to move outside the district for which his ticket was issued. A ticket of leave passport is often indicated with the annotation PP. The passport was usually issued for a 12 month period after which time it could be renewed and another passport issued for a further period. A ticket of leave passport specifies that the convict be allowed to travel between two localities usually for work purposes and may mention the employer's name.

Exemptions from Government Labour

As stated in a Circular to Magistrates from the Colonial Secretary dated 1st January 1830 the Exemption Ticket allowed:

"simply the privilege of residing until the next 31st December with the person therein named, generally a relation, in some specific district and no other".

A Ticket of Exemption did not allow a convict to be self-employed or to own property (as a Ticket of Leave allowed). It appears that the Tickets of Exemption were used as a form of assignment to relatives. The detail provided can help to easily trace the life or details of an individual convict.

Restrictions to holders

The British government in 1832 tightened the conditions for tickets of leave still further. It removed early grants for special cases such as for capturing runaways and took away the right of ticket holders to sue or be sued, thus removing 'all legal protection for their property', this latter right was not reinstated until 1843. (Shaw, Convicts and the Colonies, p.231). Under the new law the minimum periods to be served before becoming eligible for tickets of leave and pardons were the same and provision was made for more conditional pardons. (Shaw, Convicts and the Colonies, p.231).

Approving an application

In January 1843 Governor Gipps, writing about the duties of the Principal Superintendent of Convicts stated that, 'the investigation of claims to indulgences and especially to tickets of leave is the most labourious'. ( HRA, vol. 22, p.456). The convicts' records were checked and the application after being annotated by the local magistrate(s) was forwarded to the Principal Superintendent of Convicts who sent them to the Governor. The process was very thorough and there are instances in which local bench recommendations were returned or rejected due to inadequate information being supplied. (Golder, High and Responsible Office, p.34). When the application had been approved it went back through the system and the local bench would issue the ticket.

Surviving records

The earliest surviving tickets of leave records from July 1810-October 1814 are to be found in NRS-1166. There is a gap in the records of tickets of leave issued from November 1814-July 1824 when Registers of tickets of leave, NRS-12200 begin. The Principal Superintendent of Convicts' records have been listed first, as they contain the main series Ticket of leave butts, 1827-1875, NRS-12202. Then the other records where information may be found have been listed alphabetically by agency.

The Convicts Index should be consulted in the first instance.

Note: Many applications for tickets of leave are located in the series Colonial Secretary: Letters received, NRS-897 and NRS-905 and Special bundles NRS-898 and NRS-906.

Indexes to the records

Search across the following indexes in the Convicts Index

Index to tickets of exemption from government labour, 1827-1832

Index to tickets of leave, certificates of emancipation and pardons, 1810-1819

Index to tickets of leave, 1810-1875 (compiled by Dr Perry McIntyre)

Index to ticket of leave passports, 1835-1869

Index to certificates of freedom, 1823-1869

Index to conditional pardons, 1826-1870

Other indexes to check:

Record series

Principal Superintendent of Convicts

Convict Classification Board

The board was set up in January 1849 to classify convicts according to their character and conduct rather than their sentence. The board was chiefly concerned with considering the cases of individual convicts with the view to promoting them, remitting sentences, and indulgences such as tickets of leave. It divided the convicts into three divisions and then into classes within the divisions. Various incentives and rewards were available to each division.

Courts of Petty Sessions

These were formally known as Bench of Magistrates and were the local court to which a convict would attend for trial, punishment, muster and to apply for a ticket of leave or other indulgence.

Police

When the convict establishment was broken up at the end of 1855, the Convict Branch of the Police took over its duties until the remaining convicts were freed or died.

Records held elsewhere

Mitchell Library A1764 CY 789.Microfilm copy available in the Reading Room

Darling DownsReturns of ticket of leave musters

1 Jan 1847, Apr 1848, Jan 1849, Jan 1850

Mitchell Library A1764 CY 962.Microfilm copy available in the Reading Room

Darling DownsReturns of ticket of leave passports

Mitchell Library ML Mss.2480 CY 962.Microfilm copy available in the Reading Room

YassTicket of leave muster rolls

Additional sources

NSW Government Gazettes, 1832-1850 have been indexed in the Australasian Genealogical Computer Index (AGCI) available through the Society of Australian Genealogists

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Convict discipline depended not only on punishment but also on incentives and rewards. Governor King introduced the ticket of leave system in 1801. It helped reduce costs by allowing those who could support themselves honestly to do so and was also a reward for good behaviour.

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Conditional pardon - A pardon is when the charges a convict is charged with are dropped. A conditional pardon let the convict free from captivity but they were required to stay within the colony.

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Full pardon / absolute pardon - When a convict's charges are fully dropped and are no longer required to stay within the colony or do forced labour.

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Museums of History NSW. (n.d.). Convict Pardons: Conditional and Absolute. [online] Available at: https://mhnsw.au/guides/convict-pardons-conditional-and-absolute/.

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Convict Pardons: Conditional and Absolute

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Convicts with a life sentence could receive a Pardon but not a Certificate of Freedom. The two main types of pardons were:
Conditional pardon - the convict was free as long as they remained in the colony. The vast majority of convicts granted pardons were granted a conditional pardon
Absolute pardon - the convict’s sentence was entirely remitted. That is, they were free both within and outside of the colony and could return to Britain.

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Museums of History NSW. (2023). Why were convicts transported to Australia? | MHNSW. [online] Available at: https://mhnsw.au/stories/general/why-were-convicts-transported-australia/.

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Until 1782, English convicts were transported to America. However, in 1783 the American War of Independence ended. America refused to accept any more convicts so England had to find somewhere else to send their prisoners. Transportation to New South Wales was the solution.
Why so many convicts?

Life in Britain was very hard. As new machines were invented, people were no longer needed to do farming jobs so they moved to the cities. The cities became overcrowded. Many people didn't have a job and were very poor. People stole things to survive. Minor crimes such as stealing items worth more than 1 shilling (about a day's wages for a working person), cutting down a tree in an orchard or stealing livestock were punishable by transportation. The prisons quickly became full and prisoners were kept in old, rotting prison ships called hulks. These ships were usually an old naval or merchant ship that could not go to sea anymore but could still float safely in the harbour.

What was life like on the hulks?

Conditions in these floating gaols were terrible. The hulks were over-crowded and cramped, often there wasn't even room to stand up! A hulk could be up to 65 metres long. This is the same size as 6 buses placed end to end. On board each hulk there could be up to 300 convicts. There were many diseases on board and convicts died. Between 1776 and 1795 nearly 2000 out of almost 6000 convicts held on hulks, died. The majority died from diseases such as typhoid and cholera.The convicts were not fed very well. The people in charge wanted to keep costs low. The daily diet was often made up of ox-cheek, either boiled or made into soup, pease (peas), bread or biscuits. The biscuits were often mouldy. Tobacco could be supplied as part of their ration as a reward for a job well done or for good behaviour.Convicts got up at sunrise and worked hard for up to 10 hours a day. All convicts were sentenced to hard labour as part of their punishment and could be forced to work at just about any manual task such as timber cutting, brick making or stone cutting.

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Why were convicts transported to Australia? | MHNSW

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Until 1782, English convicts were transported to America. However, in 1783 the American War of Independence ended. America refused to accept any more convicts so England had to find somewhere else to send their prisoners. Transportation to New South Wales was the solution.

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The route the first fleet took with the locations they stopped at on the way

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In May, 1787, around 1400 people, across eleven ships, departed from England. Out of that 1400 people, 750 of them were convicts. The journey lasted 8 months and they had to stop 3 times for supplies. In each boat, the total area size that people could stand on was roughly 300 - 350 square meters, this means that on the boats, each person got around 2 - 3 square meters of space. This is very small and it was probably less if you take into account the cargo space and the fact that most people were kept under the deck. This meant that the trip was very crowded and uncomfortable and it lasted about 8 months. Partially because of these bad conditions, but also because of diseases such as scurvy (A disease often got on ships that is caused by not eating enough fruit of vegetables containing vitamin c) 48 people died, 43 of which were convicts. This means that the convicts had a mortality rate of approximately 17.5%, which is very high.

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convictrecords.com.au. (n.d.). Convict Records: John Allen. [online] Available at: https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/allen/john/133421.

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Community driven database of convicts brought to Australia between 1787 and 1867.

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A painting of convicts working in the colony.

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Orriginally when they arrived in Australia, they went to settle in a place called Botany Bay in NSW. They stayed there for around a week but the leader of the colony, Captain Arthur Phillip, decided that the bay was not the best place for the colony to settle. They departed and instead landed on Sydney Cove, which is now called Circular Quay. There they set up the colony and the convicts got working. Phillip asigned jobs based on the skills of each convict and made them build essential infustructure such as roads and bulidings. He also sent some of them to mork for other private settlers in the area. Phillip, as the govenor, claimed that this hard work and labour was the best way to set these criminals straight. Eventually after living out their scentence or by having good behaiviour, they convicts were given tickets of leave, conditional pardons and absolute pardons, allowing them to establish control over their own life in the colony. By 1835, only around 6 percent of convicts were still confined to the rules of the administrators. Bad behaviour, howerver led to harsh punishments such as wipping, being assigned to a chain gang or solitary confinement. Also, any convicts who repeatedly brake rules and disobey, or commit some serious crimes, are sent to places called hard labour prisons where they did excrusiating work somewhere like Norfolk Island.

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On the 3rd of March, in 1786, John Allen went to trial for stealling bed linen which was worth around $2600 in todays money. He was found guilty and the judge scenetenced him to 7 years of transportation (being banished to somewhere else). He was originally a labourer at a corn mill, which was not enough to support him and his family. He was 45 years old when he boarded the Alexander and went on his journey to New South Wales, Australia.