Transportation refers to the system of transporting convicts to the Australian colonies. Beginning with the First Fleet in 1788, more than 150 000 convicts were transported to the Australian colonies. Conditions on convict vessels were generally good, though the voyage of the Second Fleet was horrific.
From 1815 a surgeon-superintendent travelled on each ship to monitor conditions and attend to convicts' health. A campaign to abolish transportation was conducted by the anti-transportation movement, which was active from the mid-1840s. Transportation to NSW ceased in 1840 but resumed briefly in 1848, and transportation to Tasmania ceased in 1853. Transportation was abandoned completely after 1867, when the last convict ship departed for WA, to which convicts had been sent from 1850.
Helen Doyle
How to cite this entry:
Helen Doyle "Transportation" The Oxford Companion to Australian History. Ed. Graeme Davison, John Hirst and Stuart Macintyre. Oxford University Press, 2001. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 20 February 2012
