Media: BOOK - paperback, 252 pages
Author: A. Gill
Year: (2004) 2016
ISBN: 9780859056199
Other: bibliog, indexes
Publisher: Hesperian Press

This book traces the decisions taken in England and Western Australia in 1838-1839 which led to the arrival of the first convicts from Parkhurst Prison. Between the years of 1841 and 1852 nearly 1500 boys aged from twelve to eighteen were transported to Australia and New Zealand from the Isle of Wight's Parkhurst Prison.

Under the scheme, the boys were to be granted pardons under certain conditions such as permanent exile from England and, in the case of younger boys, undertaking apprenticeship in the colonies. Almost 1500 boys are recorded as being sent to the colonies where, particularly in New Zealand, the scheme was seen by some as defacto convictism. In Western Australia, however, the need for labour at that time appears to have made the young exiles acceptable.

Using the records of the "Guardians of Government Juvenile Immigrants" it lists the 264 Masters to whom the convicts were assigned under the guise of "apprenticeship". The apprenticeship system was nothing less than convict assignment (the gift of cheap labour to the colonial bourgeoise).

Complete with extensive tables, and index this is a good book if you a researching any of the Parkhurst Prison boys or their masters.

Contents:
Tables
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Preface to the second edition
Numbering

Part 1
Introduction
1. The 'mechanics' of convict assignment in Western Australia 1842-1851
2. The Masters
3. From assignment to penal colony
4. Unfinished business

Part 2
Appendix
Register of the employers of Parkhurst 'apprentices' in Western Australia 1842-1851
Bibliography
Name index (names of convicts)
Name index (names of employers of assigned convicts)
Name index (other names mentioned in the text)
Places index
Subject index