Convicts

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Convicts transported to Austraila

Some soldiers committed crimes so they would be transported to Australia, according to Emma Roberts who was in India 1828-1832. She wrote: "A few [soldiers], driven to despair by the melancholy prospect of interminable exile, unable to await the slow approach of their recall, and allured by the flowery descriptions of Australia, plunge into crime for the purpose of exchanging honourable servitude in India for a felon's lot in a climate resembling that of England. It is no very unusual circumstance for a soldier to attempt the life of his officer or his comrade, in the hope of being transported to a country possessing so many features akin to the land of his birth; and even the punishment of death is to some less terrible than the prospect of eternal banishment from "the home they left with little pain."" [1]

External Links

  • NSW State Archives Major sources held by NSW State Records that relate to trade and migration between India and New South Wales and includes a section on convicts.
  • Sydney Journal Part of the Dictionary of Sydney. Some British military prisoners were sent first to Mauritius, and then to Sydney.

Historical books online

Convicts transported to Penang

Some convicts were sent to Penang from India.

Historical books online


References

  1. 'Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan' Volume 2, Page 122 by Emma Roberts. Published 1837