WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE FOR

THE EARLY CONVICTS?

 SYDNEY AS A LITTLE VILLAGE

• This painting (from 1803) shows visiting ships

anchored in the harbour, houses with
chimneys and fences and a simple system of
streets. The long white building is the
hospital and there are a range of different
people in the foreground. The weather looks
like a bright clear day.

• Title: Sydney from the west side of the cove

Artist: George Evans 1802
By 1801 Sydney had grown into a little village with
streets and buildings

• Convicts lived in their own homes in an area known as ‘The Rocks’, some
with their families. But it wasn’t just convicts living in the village; local
Aboriginal people lived there too. They camped near the convict houses,
fished on the harbour, traded goods and food with townsfolk and brought
news from further away.
• Aboriginal people had lived in and around Sydney Cove for thousands of
years and they called it Warrane
Warrane
 Did the new settlers
like it?
• For newly arrived convicts, the environment of Sydney
was strange and very different to what they were used
to. During summer, days of unbearable heat were
often followed by ferocious thunderstorms and
torrential rain.
• Overhead flew flocks of brightly coloured parrots and
cockatoos, while kangaroos, echidnas, wombats and
goannas roamed the scrubby bush. Most convicts
enjoyed living in Sydney more than living on settler
farms in the bush. In town they could visit friends or
family for a cup of tea or lunch, enjoy a dance in fancy
clothes or visit a theatre. When they were not
working, they gambled with their money, played
games and relaxed.
• Image: A famous Joseph Lycett painting of Newcastle in 1818.
 WHAT DID THEY EAT?
• Most convicts were given a daily ration by the government. They collected it from the government food store
and were given:

 450 grams of salted beef or pork

 450 grams of corn (sometimes still on the cob)

 450 grams of wheat flour to make bread.

• Women and teenagers were given smaller rations than the men – so they would have often been hungry.

• Sometimes the meat was rotten because it had been kept for months, or even years, on a ship before being
issued. In the colony, when the weather was bad and crops got damaged, the convicts were given less to eat.

• If a convict had some money they could buy more food. Better still, if they had a small vegetable garden at
their home they could eat, or sell, what they were able to grow. Some convicts tried to catch fish or collect
oysters and shellfish in Sydney harbour to give them more to eat. They also tried to hunt animals like ducks,
birds and kangaroos – but that was not easy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=mBbGgcX-75c
 How did the Indigenous
People Eat?

• Aboriginal people hunted,

gathered and carefully managed
the various local food sources,
making sure they didn’t take too
much. But when convicts started
to hunt and collect food in the
same areas, they often took too
much. This put pressure on the
environment and reduced the
amount of food available.

• Aborigines using fire to hunt

kangaroos by Joseph Lycett,
approximately 1775-1828
 WHAT WORK DID THE CONVICTS DO?

• Convict men started work at 7am and did lots of different jobs.
Most men worked for government ‘gangs’ although some worked
for free settlers and soldiers. They cut down trees, sawed timber,
made bricks, built doors, windows and furniture. Some men
pulled carts and others moved buckets and barrels of water.
Female convicts did different work to the men. Many of them
worked for families as cooks, maids, nurses or washerwomen.
• A lot of the work that convicts did affected Aboriginal people, their
way of life and their close connection to their country. Cutting
down trees and clearing land destroyed traditional hunting
grounds. Catching fish and collecting oysters from the waterways
meant there was less available for Aboriginal people to feed their
families. Building farms and fences made it harder for Aboriginal
people to travel across, care for and camp in areas that they had
used and nurtured for many years.
WERE THE CONVICTS WELL BEHAVED?

• Most convicts worked hard and tried to behave well so that they
would earn a ticket-of-leave. A ticket-of-leave meant a convict could
work for himself or herself, earning money and enjoying more
freedom.
• William Noah is a good example of a convict who worked hard and
was well-behaved. He had been convicted of robbery in England
and sentenced to transportation for life. He arrived in Sydney in
1799 and was sent to work at the government lumberyard, where
he worked hard for many years. In 1818 he was given an Absolute
Pardon which meant his 'life sentence was over, and he then lived
in Sydney for the rest of his life as a free man.

• However, if a convict was badly behaved, refused to work, stole

food or tools, or tried to escape they could be punished with a
flogging or a stint in chains. If their behaviour was really serious
they faced being sent to work in the mines of Newcastle or further
away on lonely Norfolk Island.