A government jail gang at Sydney.

A government jail gang at Sydney. © National Maritime Museum, London

Repro ID: PU2131

Description: Early Australia and Tasmania were built by convict labour. Over 160,000 convicts were transported from Britain, including nearly 25,000 women. Most worked in the fields or tended livestock on small farms but some employers owned massive areas of land. Very few free emigrants went out in the early years even though land was very cheap. Many convicts gained land when their sentence was finished and employed other convicts to work it.

Creator: A. Earle (artist), J. Cross (publisher)

Date: 1830-08-10