2. Migration
The first result of Industrialisation was to put artisans out of work. In some places this caused riots - for instance, hand weavers (called Luddites) tried to destroy factory machinery [http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/history/britain/england/1760/luddites.htm] because they could not compete with the fast, cheap fabrics produced in factories. You can read more about this at the Luddites at 200 [http://www.luddites200.org.uk/theLuddites.html] . The end result of this was to drive workers from the country into city areas looking for work, a process called urbanisation.
Because there were so many workers, wages were low and working conditions were poor. This was especially bad during national disasters such as The Great Hunger of Ireland (when most of the potatoe plants died and poor people had nothign to eat) in 1847. This led many people into a life of crime, or to seek a better life in America or Australia.
(a) Convicts
The immense number of poor people in cities made crime very common. The prisons quickly became overcrowded. One solution to this problem was to send the criminals/convicts to new colonies in Australia and America. This was called transportation. If you type "transportation" into this database [http://vcp.e2bn.org/search/advancedsearch.php], you will find a list of people sentenced to live in Australia for their crimes. Many of these crimes involved theft of food or transport (presumably to sell stolen goods or just to seek a better life elsewhere). This site also includes a case study of a child transported to Tasmania (Van Dieman's Land) [http://vcp.e2bn.org/case_studies/casestudy11208-henry-catlin-age-14-deported.html]. Transportation was seen as a kind sentence because at this time people were often sentenced to death (hanging) for stealing. You could also search the First Fleet Database [http://firstfleet.uow.edu.au/search.aspx] to find out the kinds of people (and their crimes) who arrived on the first convict ships.
While convicts are waiting to be transported, they were kept on prison ships in the middle of London. You can read about the terrible conditions obn board the prison ships at this site by the Royal Museum, Greenwich [http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.56/chapterId/429/Prison-hulks-on-the-River-Thames.html]. This six-hats activity [http://www.achistoryunits.edu.au/verve/_resources/Htaa_first_fleet_six_hat_thinking.pdf] has some excellent thinking questions about the effectiveness of transportation as a solution to poverty and rapid urbanisation.
Once convicts arrived in Australia, they were expected to work (for free) at their trade (builder, farmhand, weaver etc), but their employers did not necessarily treat them well. This clip from Splash [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1253325/blood-sweat-and-stones-convict-builders] show the primitive tools and heavy stones used by convicts to build up the new cities of Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney, while this clip [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/29376/william-cuffay-fellow-slaves-] asks whether being a convict was a type of slavery. Other clips [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1253347/a-flogging-for-a-pair-of-boots], [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1253303/what-letters-and-land-titles-tell-us-of-the-past] and [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1534097/don-t-walk-in-these-convict-shoes] show just how brutal life as a prisoner could be. You can read more about the role of convicts in early australia at this Australia Government site [http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/convicts-and-the-british-colonies] or this pilot guide..
Female convicts had an especially hard life, as the ships were treated as "floating brothels" and when they arrived in Australia, the officials could pick the priettiest girls to marry (but marrying did get you out of being a convict, which many women would have preferred). The Female Factory at Parramatta [http://www.myplace.edu.au/teaching_activities/1878_-_before_time/1808/2]/a_female_gaol.html?idSubtheme=3380] was a notroious home for female convicts, where girls as young as ??? were often abused as well as being forced to do hard labour (esp. washing by hand over vats of boiling water and ironing with an iron heated on the fire), working in the wool factory [http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/272.html], and learning how to become domestic servants for free settlers.
An alternative opinion of convict life can be found in this audioclip [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/29448/convict-life-in-the-rocks-sydney] which suggests that some convicts enjoys a normal life as settlers in Sydney.
While convicts are waiting to be transported, they were kept on prison ships in the middle of London. You can read about the terrible conditions obn board the prison ships at this site by the Royal Museum, Greenwich [http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.56/chapterId/429/Prison-hulks-on-the-River-Thames.html]. This six-hats activity [http://www.achistoryunits.edu.au/verve/_resources/Htaa_first_fleet_six_hat_thinking.pdf] has some excellent thinking questions about the effectiveness of transportation as a solution to poverty and rapid urbanisation.
Once convicts arrived in Australia, they were expected to work (for free) at their trade (builder, farmhand, weaver etc), but their employers did not necessarily treat them well. This clip from Splash [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1253325/blood-sweat-and-stones-convict-builders] show the primitive tools and heavy stones used by convicts to build up the new cities of Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney, while this clip [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/29376/william-cuffay-fellow-slaves-] asks whether being a convict was a type of slavery. Other clips [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1253347/a-flogging-for-a-pair-of-boots], [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1253303/what-letters-and-land-titles-tell-us-of-the-past] and [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1534097/don-t-walk-in-these-convict-shoes] show just how brutal life as a prisoner could be. You can read more about the role of convicts in early australia at this Australia Government site [http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/convicts-and-the-british-colonies] or this pilot guide..
Female convicts had an especially hard life, as the ships were treated as "floating brothels" and when they arrived in Australia, the officials could pick the priettiest girls to marry (but marrying did get you out of being a convict, which many women would have preferred). The Female Factory at Parramatta [http://www.myplace.edu.au/teaching_activities/1878_-_before_time/1808/2]/a_female_gaol.html?idSubtheme=3380] was a notroious home for female convicts, where girls as young as ??? were often abused as well as being forced to do hard labour (esp. washing by hand over vats of boiling water and ironing with an iron heated on the fire), working in the wool factory [http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/272.html], and learning how to become domestic servants for free settlers.
An alternative opinion of convict life can be found in this audioclip [http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/29448/convict-life-in-the-rocks-sydney] which suggests that some convicts enjoys a normal life as settlers in Sydney.
(b) Free Settlers
This category includes migrants who came to australia as:
Some simple summaries about these people can be found at Trishan's Oz [http://panique.com.au/trishansoz/people/peoplehi.html] and Objects through Time [http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime-history/1830-1840s/] describes the experiences of early settlers in Australia, while Museum victoria [http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/websites-mini/journeys-australia/1850s70s/] has a short guide to life on the way to Australia. Visual learners might enjoy the annotated photo gallery by Cath's Cottage on Pintrest https://www.pinterest.com/cathscottage/australia-old-black-white-photos/].
For more detail, History SA[http://boundforsouthaustralia.net.au/weekly-posts/week-44.html] has a set of diary entries about early settlers (click on Week 44 for class tasks on these sources), and the National Museum of Australia [http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/131151/Pastoral_settlement_bw.pdf] has a wonderful unit of work, including primary sources about squatters. More on settlement can be found at the State Library of Westen Australia [http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/dead_reckoning/government_archival_records/d-j/group_settlement]
- Officials sent by Britain to mamage the colonies
- Selectors who were given small areas of land to clear (chop down trees) and farm, usually growing just enough food to survive
- Squatters who took (or leased from the government) very large area of land, which were the most profitable farms (esp. for wool)
- Soldiers employed by Britian to keep order and protect the coloony (also called Redcoats)
- Prospectors who came looking for gold (including many Chinese migrants)
- Tradespeople (builders, blacksmiths, butchers, bakers etc) who started businesses to support the settlers
Some simple summaries about these people can be found at Trishan's Oz [http://panique.com.au/trishansoz/people/peoplehi.html] and Objects through Time [http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime-history/1830-1840s/] describes the experiences of early settlers in Australia, while Museum victoria [http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/websites-mini/journeys-australia/1850s70s/] has a short guide to life on the way to Australia. Visual learners might enjoy the annotated photo gallery by Cath's Cottage on Pintrest https://www.pinterest.com/cathscottage/australia-old-black-white-photos/].
For more detail, History SA[http://boundforsouthaustralia.net.au/weekly-posts/week-44.html] has a set of diary entries about early settlers (click on Week 44 for class tasks on these sources), and the National Museum of Australia [http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/131151/Pastoral_settlement_bw.pdf] has a wonderful unit of work, including primary sources about squatters. More on settlement can be found at the State Library of Westen Australia [http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/dead_reckoning/government_archival_records/d-j/group_settlement]