Backbencher

Lecture four dealt with the topics of the convicts and also the matter of colonization. The first part of the lecture we discussed the idea of history as mythistory. This is the idea that historians are really myth makers. From there we went on to talk about the first settlers and convicts of Australia and New Zealand. The convicts were sent to Australia for several reasons, one was the crime problem in England, and the other was the crowding of the hulks in the docks in England. The convicts were shipped away to alleviate the over-crowding problem and to attempt to slow down the crime rate. The convicts were a wide variety of people as well. They ranged from people who committed minor crimes such as theft, to murder to political dissidents. It seems like the convict system did not work as well as they intended. The convicts used slow work techniques that were referred to as 'Government Stroke'. Also they had to find new areas where to relocate the convicts who had a tendency to run away or committed additional crimes. From the convicts we went on to discuss the planned colonization of New Zealand. It was designed so that people would work parcels of land, and the profits from the land went to bring immigrants over from other countries to create another England so to speak.

I thought this was an interesting lecture. I enjoyed reading about the convict portion in Manning Clark's book, so it was nice to discuss it in further detail in class. I did not realize that the convict system could be compared to the slavery system in the United States. It makes sense in a way, but at the same time, the slaves had done no wrong and were forced in to slavery. The convicts on the other hand had broken crimes, so in theory it seems ok that they would be made to do work.