A Ticket of Leave (TOL) was a document given to convicts when granting them freedom to work and live within a given district of the colony before their sentence expired or they were pardoned. TOL convicts could hire themselves out or be self-employed. They could also acquire property. Church attendance was compulsory, as was appearing before a Magistrate when required. Permission was needed before moving to another district and 'passports' were issued to those convicts whose work required regular travel between districts. Convicts applied through their masters to the Bench Magistrates for a TOL and needed to have served a stipulated portion of their sentence:
- 7 year terms needed 4 years service with 1, or 5 years with 2 masters
- 14 years needed 6 years with 1, 8 years with 2 or 12 years with 3 masters
- Lifers needed 8 years with 1, 10 years with 2 or 12 years with 3 masters
TOL documents record the convict's number, name, ship, year of arrival, the master of the ship, native place, trade or calling, offence, place and date of trial, sentence, year of birth, physical description, the district the prisoner was allocated to, the granting Bench, the date of issue, and further remarks about Conditional Pardons and district changes. Registers of Tickets of Leave 1824 to 1827 (with index) are included in the SAONSW Genealogical Research Kit. Records of applications for replacement tickets and records of passport tickets for convicts moving between districts from 1835 to 1869 were also kept and are held by the SAONSW.
Friday, December 15, 2000
Prison Without Bars - Sydney 1829
The normal fate of a well-behaved convict prior to 1840 was assignment to public or private service. Convicts upon arrival in the settlement were assigned either to the government or to free settlers. Assigned servants were often paid. Most received indulgences like tea, sugar, tobacco or even spirits as an incentive to work and as a means of discipline. For the most part they were kindly treated. If conditions were hard and the men had to live in huts with roofs of stringy bark laid on sapling rafters tied with cords from a kurrajong tree and beds of wooden slabs covered with bark - it must be remembered that these were probably the same conditions under which the masters suffered.
The master was in a position to charge any of his servants with insubordination or misconduct. They could not punish the convict themselves. However, the master could send a man to the nearest magistrate who could hear the case and determine punishment.
Little more than 10% of convicts succeeded in maintaining a 'clean sheet'.
The master was in a position to charge any of his servants with insubordination or misconduct. They could not punish the convict themselves. However, the master could send a man to the nearest magistrate who could hear the case and determine punishment.
Little more than 10% of convicts succeeded in maintaining a 'clean sheet'.
John Dickson
John Dickson was a young engineer who migrated to the colony of NSW in 1813. He arrived on the Earl Spencer and brought with him the first steam engine in NSW. Gov. Macquarie immediatley recognised his potential and made him a land grant of sixteen acres. It is on record however, that by 1818, Dickson owned 17,000 acres on which he was running 3,000 cattle, 2,000 sheep and 65 horses. He also owned a milled and a brewery.
In June 1815, the Sydney Gazette reported that Mr John Dickson had been zealosly occupied in setting up a queer monster, all wheels and gears and soot, which he had shipped from Maid Lane in Shakesear's Southwark. The site the Governor had granted him was 'a most convenient and eligible situation in the Town of Sydney, having a run of fresh water thro it, for him to erect his mills, steam engine and machinery on'.
Mr Dickson had brought a considerable capital with him and was of 'enterprising spirit and perservering industry'. On his 15 acre grant, bounded on the north by Liverpool Street and on the east by George St, he was able, on 29 May, 1815, to receive the Governor (Macquarie) with a whistle and a puff of fleecy vapour when the latter came to inaugurate the mills, which were now ready for 'gringing grain and sawing timber on a large scale'.
Biography
In June 1815, the Sydney Gazette reported that Mr John Dickson had been zealosly occupied in setting up a queer monster, all wheels and gears and soot, which he had shipped from Maid Lane in Shakesear's Southwark. The site the Governor had granted him was 'a most convenient and eligible situation in the Town of Sydney, having a run of fresh water thro it, for him to erect his mills, steam engine and machinery on'.
Mr Dickson had brought a considerable capital with him and was of 'enterprising spirit and perservering industry'. On his 15 acre grant, bounded on the north by Liverpool Street and on the east by George St, he was able, on 29 May, 1815, to receive the Governor (Macquarie) with a whistle and a puff of fleecy vapour when the latter came to inaugurate the mills, which were now ready for 'gringing grain and sawing timber on a large scale'.
Biography
Cork Convict Quarters
When a transportation sentence was handed down, the convict was usually returned to the local or county gaol until preparations were made for transmitting him or her to the port. Transportees from the southern counties were housed in the city gaol at Cork. Built over the old gate to the northern part of the city, it was in decay and constantly overcrowded.
From 1817 a holding prison, known as a depot, was provided in Cork to house the large numbers of convicts accumulating there [see footnote 5].
Footnote 5
The removal of the male convicts to hulks in 1822 meant that conditions at the Cork depot improved considerably. During her tour of inspection of Irish prisons in 1826, the prison reformer, Elizabeth Fry, pronounced it to be defective as to its conformation, but '...cleanly, comfortable and well superintended'. She was not convinced, however, of the need for such depots, and seemed more in favour of the English method of bringing the convicts straight from the county and city gaols to the transport ships for embarkation. (See Elizabeth Fry and Joseph John Gurney, Report addressed to the Marquess Wellesley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, respecting their late visit to that country, London, 1827, pp 21-22).
From 1817 a holding prison, known as a depot, was provided in Cork to house the large numbers of convicts accumulating there [see footnote 5].
Footnote 5
The removal of the male convicts to hulks in 1822 meant that conditions at the Cork depot improved considerably. During her tour of inspection of Irish prisons in 1826, the prison reformer, Elizabeth Fry, pronounced it to be defective as to its conformation, but '...cleanly, comfortable and well superintended'. She was not convinced, however, of the need for such depots, and seemed more in favour of the English method of bringing the convicts straight from the county and city gaols to the transport ships for embarkation. (See Elizabeth Fry and Joseph John Gurney, Report addressed to the Marquess Wellesley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, respecting their late visit to that country, London, 1827, pp 21-22).
The Governor Ready
The Governor Ready was built at Prince Edward Island in 1825. She arrived in Australia for the second time on 16th January 1829 under the command of Master John Young. Thomas B. Wilson was Surgeon. (The Governor Ready's first trip to Australia left Cork on the 1st September 1827). She had left Cork on the 21st September, 1828. A trip of 117 days with 200 male prisoners.
Convict ships of the time were quite small, varying from 320 to 450 tons, about 100 feet long and 30 feet broad. They were crowded, not only with convicts and crew, but also provisions, stores, sheep, hogs, goats and poultry, not to mention rats, cockroaches and vermin. They were difficult to ventilate. The ships were usually provided and equipped by private firms, looking to make a profit. The contracts called for the ships to be sea worthy, properly manned and fitted out with the convict's quarters clean and ventilated. The contractors had to provide a surgeon. Prisoners were allowed on deck as much as possible. Rations, based on those in the navy were ample if properly distributed.
The prisoners were usually divided into 'messes' of six. Each week a mess typically would receive:
Convict ships of the time were quite small, varying from 320 to 450 tons, about 100 feet long and 30 feet broad. They were crowded, not only with convicts and crew, but also provisions, stores, sheep, hogs, goats and poultry, not to mention rats, cockroaches and vermin. They were difficult to ventilate. The ships were usually provided and equipped by private firms, looking to make a profit. The contracts called for the ships to be sea worthy, properly manned and fitted out with the convict's quarters clean and ventilated. The contractors had to provide a surgeon. Prisoners were allowed on deck as much as possible. Rations, based on those in the navy were ample if properly distributed.
The prisoners were usually divided into 'messes' of six. Each week a mess typically would receive:
- 20 pound of bread
- 12 pound of flour
- 16 pound of beef
- 6 pound of pork
- 12 pints of pease
- 2 pound of rice
- 1 1/2 pound of butter
- 1 1/2 pound of suet
- 3 pound of raisin
- 6 pints of oatmeal
- sugar, vinegar and lime juice
- 3 to 4 gills of wine per day
- 3 quarts of water per day
On the 18th May 1829 the Governor Ready sailed from Sydney bound for Ireland. Between Murray and Halfway Islands, north-east of Cape York, she struck a detached reef and foundered. The 39 crew took to the ships boats: 19 in the longboat; 12 in the skiff and 8 in the jolly boat. After touching several uninhabited islands there were sighted by the brig Amity off Timor - a passage of 2,500 kilometers in 14 days.
On 31 May 1829 it was reported that they crew were rescued.
The Parish of Burgess
The parish of Burgess is in the north of County Tipperary. It lies in the Barony of Owney and Arra, about 2 miles south-west of Nenagh (in the civil parish of Burgesbeg. This is the foothills of the Arra Mountains (the ancestral lands of the O'Brien).
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