Is it true that English convicts were sent to Australia to serve there sentences out there?
On January 26, 1788, a fleet of ships landed at what is now Sydney, Australia. These ships were under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip and had brought a load of prisoners from England. The prisoners on the ships were not all criminals as we would think of them today. Many of them were people who had been arrested because the government didn’t like what they had to say. And some were poor people who had been jailed because they owed money. (More clarification…Thanks Nate!) These prisoners were the first Europeans to settle in Australia. Before 1783 (when the Americans won the Revolutionary War) many of Britain’s unwanted criminals had been sent to the United States. The desire to get rid of criminals was not the only motivation for colonizing Australia. Botany Bay, Australia made a good port of call for British ships travelling in that part of the world. Also, Australia’s raw materials were an attractive reason for colonizing the country. Even before then, many had been sent to t
