Backbencher

Lecture 4 is titled Settlement: Convicts & Pilgrims. The first part of this title comes from the English transportation of convicts to Australia. The reason for this transportation was because of the overcrowding prisons or "hulks," that were basically big ships of prisoners anchored away from shore. Australia consisted of three main convict colonies: New South Wales formed in 1788, also known as "Botany Bay," Van Diemen's Land formed in 1822 where the scum of the scum were sent, and Western Australia formed in 1829.

The convicts were comprised of many groups of people such as: Political dissidents (Irish republicans, Luddites, hardcore criminals, as well as some petty criminals (but not many)). Convict life had its own vocabulary and trades. Thieves that specialized in stealing baggage were known as Dragsneaks. Tillfriskers distracted store clerks and stole cash. Skinners were women who would entice men into a private place and make off with their clothes. Separate outposts for the incorrigibles were set up. They were along the coast: Newcastle, Port Macquarie, and Moreton Bay. Norfold Island was far away and known as the "Botany Bay of Botany Bay." Transportation abolition gave way due to the world-wide anti-slavery movement as well as endemic crime in Australia. Transportation ceased between 1852-1868 due to the Molesworth Committee.

NZ was settled by pilgrims with a planned colonization. Edward Wakefield devised a plan in which only small parcels of land were set aside for settlers and sold at a sufficient price which kept speculators out. It was a side note that Wakefield was a pervert and married/kidnapped a 15yr old girl. Land sales funded new immigration of people with "good character." Pastoralism grew on the felden with Marino sheep. Scottish herders were often wanted along with their herding dogs. Gold rushes in 1861 attracted the undesirables: Australians, Americans, and Chinese. A.H. Clark wrote a book about how when people enter a place they bring their baggage along with them.

This whole lecture had a great deal of talk about William McNeill's idea of Mythistory. I think that the history of OZ and NZ have definitely been a product of historians telling myths and stories passed on. I wonder if OZ and NZ become susceptible to this idea of Mythistory so well because it is more distant than all other colonies/empires before.