Convict assignment was the practice used in many
penal colonies
A penal colony or exile colony is a Human settlement, settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colony, colonial territory. Although the te ...
of assigning
convicts
A convict is "a person found Guilt (law), guilty of a crime and Sentence (law), sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a commo ...
to work for private individuals. Contemporary abolitionists characterised the practice as virtual
slavery
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
, and some, but by no means all, latter-day
historians
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
have agreed with this assessment.
In
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, every penal colony except
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
had a system of convict assignment.
Convicts in Western Australia were never assigned,
with the debatable exception of the
Parkhurst apprentices.
The system was abolished in
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
and
Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...
on 1 July 1841 and replaced with the probation gang system. After working for two years in a labour gang, if they were well-behaved, convicts received 'probation passages' which meant they could work for wages.
See also
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Convict lease
Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor in the United States, penal labor that was practiced historically in the Southern United States before it was formally Convict leasing#End of the system, abolished during the 20th century. Un ...
*
Further reading
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References
Convictism in Australia
Penal labour
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