General Chat

Just want to say I am proud of my convicts in my family and would love to visit there country of Australia. I would love to lay flowers where I believe my 3 x Grt Grandfather lays
Christine

Christine so many convicts back way yonder are to be proud of. many were deported for nothing less than taking a pheasant so they could eat or for rioting for a better way of life ...

Mind some were just out and out thugs, murderers, and the like.

Not sure if I would have been proud of those but certainly being sent to Oz and having to forge a new life ..yes I would be proud.

Am I right here?

Didn't a lot of convicts have to actually pay to stay in Australia after their sentence was done, and it cost them a lot?

If I am right I admire them for chosing a new life

Kim

dont they seem trivial crimes too what many could say of now,

im not putting down their crimes,
but it seems sad they got sent away for a sheep,

bless um, but hope they all had good lives after going to oz

Yes I have 5 convicts for certain and all they did was steal food. I am sure they did it to survive
Yes they went on to have good lives. One didnt survive the journey and my 3 x Grt Grandfather died after only 2 years being there but the others went on to marry and lots of children
Thank you for your replies

When I began my OH's tree many moons ago all I wanted to do was find a sheepstealer - none- but I did to my amazement and his find Vicars. Some have said not a lot between them!!!

my gg grandfather died in Maitland gaol 10 days after disembarking in Melbourne. He wasn't a transported convict, he paid for his passage. The court records show that he wasn't charged with any offence, but it is interesting to see what other people were charged with at Newcastle Court - one man for illegally (it looks like washing, but could be working) a horse, 12 months hard labour. A woman for using obscene language - 3 months imprisonment in default of paying a £5 fine. £5 in 1862! What would that be now?

edit to say that I am proud of him, and that I'm disappointed that descendants of his eldest son who sailed with him don't seem to be interested in the information I could pass on to them :(

**wonders whether the Uk would be virtually empty and Australia would be full if people were transported for swearing today**

Our convict ancestors were the backbone of this country.

Most of the early Aussie Colony was built from the blood ,sweat, and tears, off the backs of convict labor. Both male and female.

I have 7 convict transportees in my tree, with two being on the first fleet "Scarborough" 1788.
My grandsons are 5th generation Aussie decendant from these two convicts,( among others ) and i have been fortunate to follow their lives down through the generations ( Archives ) to the present day, and read the hardships they endured along the way.

Our convicts must have been very determined and tough people, to work and survive in one of the hotest and driest Countries in the world, with temps reaching over 40c during summer.

I admire each and every one of them, and to bad they are not here today to see what they themselves had started, and the now millions of decendants they had left behind to carry on the family tree.

God bless them all.


Tony ( Australia )
ps. The best of the British stock were not always the upper class....;>))