Which European nation used Australia as a penal colony?

Answer 1

The British Empire sent convicts to many countries, especially to their colonies, where the cheap labour convicts offered could be employed. While convicts were sent to Singapore, South Africa and India, the largest numbers were sent to America and after the American revolution Australia (similar quantities over a smilar period).

Those Australians who can trace their ancestors back to those who were transported to a life in an undveloped new country several months travel away are generally proud of their history. They are proud that their ancestors overcame the harsh conditions in an unbroken country where they had been sent for crimes largely linked to poverty or their political beliefs. While the records of Britsh convicts having been sold off as indentured servants in the colonies of the American North West exist in detail in the Library of Congress, and elsewhere, the American public are not generally aware of this ancestry.

However, the history of transportation of convicts to both America and Australia is included on the curriculum of all Australian schools.

Interestingly American transportess were more likely to survive the sea journey than Australians because, in the American case, they had been on sold to the ships captain who could only recover the cost of his effort through selling them on as indentured servants. The contractors who carried convicts to Australia were in the employ of the British government ad were paid per journey.

One theory as to why Americans are not aware of their convict ancestry is that those convicts that survived the harsh conditions laboring in places such as he Virginian plantations were easily able to change their names and their history before they melted into the wider exisiting community at a new location as America received free settlers at the same time as the convicts arrived. The fact thay they were easier to identify made the slaves of African origin more attractive than these earlier British convict that had been sold into slavery.

Another reason America's convict history seems to be lost is that it is hidden amongst its slave trading history. The first slaves (or indentured servants as they are often misledingly termed) were British children aboard the Mayflower - one only four years of age.

Answer 2

The British Empire used New Holland (Australia) as their penal colony from 1788 - 1868.

Answer 3

Australia