Irish Convicts Women and Children Transported to Australia in 1848. Irish women and children were prisoners on the convict ship the John Calvin. Children as young as 12 years old were among the Irish female convicts. They had been sentenced to seven years transportation and imprisonment in Australia in 1848. These women and children were transported to Australia on the John Calvin convict ship It left Dublin Ireland to make the long journey to Hobart Town Penal Colony in Australia. All women and children from around Ireland who were sentenced to transportation to Australia went to the Grangegorman Prison . They had to spend three months at Grangegorman Female Penitentiary in Stoneybatter Dublin 7 before they were transported to Australia as convicts. . The centralization of all convicts who received a sentence of transportation to Australia was necessary at the time. The authorities in Australia had complained to the British Government They had reported that the female convicts who had already arrived at Hobart had no skills and therefore had no way of supporting themselves once they arrived in Australia. So the British Government decided to gather up all the female convicts who had been sentenced to transportation and were in prisons all over Ireland. They were sent to the prison in Grangegorman Female Penitentiary, Stoneybatter Dublin 7 where they had to spend three months learning skills that would make them employable once they were transported. They were to be trained in skills that would allow them to be sent out to work for the free settlers in Australia as part of their sentence. This rule applied to young children under sentence of transportation too About fifty cells were used exclusively for these convicts. They did not mix with ordinary prisoners. They exercised and ate separately. Their training consisted of sewing, knitting, cooking and laundry service. It was designed to give them the skills needed by them when they would arrive in Australia as convicts and be assigned work duties as house servants. Up till then the women were put in the jails in Australia and left there for years because they were not capable of outside work. The free settlers would not take them on This was costing the Australian Authorities out in Hobart a lot of money because the convicts had to be housed, fed and guarded in the prisons. Young Irish children on board the convict ship the John Calvin Irish children were also sentenced to transportation to Australia They were on board the convict ship The John Calvin in 1848 bound for Hobart Town in Australia The four youngest prisoners each sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia were: Mary Ryan age 12 Crime- Larceny Convicted in Waterford Mary Jane Movraw age 14 Crime- Larceny Convicted in Antrim Bridget Haughegan age 15 Crime- Larceny Convicted in Galway Margaret McConnell age 15 Crime-Larceny Convicted in Down
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 17:12:36 +0000
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