Convict assignment records

On arrival to the Colony of New South Wales, a convict was either retained by the Government or assigned to an individual. Assigned male convicts were generally employed as field labourers, or tradesmen; women became domestic servants.

Government convicts were most often engaged on public works projects. The majority of women convicts were engaged in the manufacture of wool and linen at the Parramatta Female Factory. A smaller number were employed as hospital nurses and midwives, as servants to officers, and in caring for orphans.

Please be aware that very few records of assignment have survived.

Overview

Early Government employment

Under Governor Phillip most convicts were kept in government hands to construct buildings and roads and cultivate the land needed to establish the settlement and produce sufficient food. Once the bare necessities of life had been made available, convicts performed a broader variety of government tasks including administrative work.

Convict work gangs

Phillip's successors continued to make use of convicts. Macquarie, in particular, had an extensive public works programme that derived in part from his ambitious plans for the colony and partly from the fact that after 1815 the number of convicts arriving exceeded the capacity of private settlers to employ them. He employed convicts in supervised gangs, which were used to construct roads and public buildings in Sydney, Parramatta, Windsor and Liverpool. From 1819 convicts working in these gangs as well as those engaged on other public works at Sydney were housed in the Hyde Park Barracks.

The British Government viewed the retention of so many government convicts as an extravagance. As a result of Bigge’s Reports there was a reduction in public works and a marked increase in the number of convicts assigned to private settlers, especially in rural areas.

Stricter conditions for government convicts

Governor Brisbane tightened up the regulations for the employment of convicts and made government service more punitive. Non-labouring tasks for convicts were markedly reduced and only small numbers of the best behaved were employed as constables, hospital workers and domestics. (Australian Encyclopaedia, 4th ed., vol.3, p.48).

From 1823 clearing gangs, iron gangs and road parties carried out many public works thus contributing to the development of the colony. Government employment was now mostly regarded as a punishment to be endured by offenders, who had either been returned by private employers or whose bad behaviour made them unfit for assignment. Convicts engaged on the gangs were closely guarded by soldiers and housed in stockades. The worst of the secondary offenders were sent to penal settlements at Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Moreton Bay, Norfolk Island and Port Arthur.

Assignment on arrival

Upon arrival in the colony convicts were either assigned to a settler or kept to work for the government, which determined the manner of their employment and the area to which they were allocated.

Assigned male convicts were generally employed as field labourers or tradesmen; women became domestic servants. Government convicts were most often engaged on public works projects.

Work assignment for female convicts

The majority of women convicts were engaged in the manufacture of wool and linen at the Female Factory. A smaller number were employed as hospital nurses and midwives, as servants to officers, and in caring for orphans.

Private employers

After the opening years the majority of convicts were assigned to private employers who were responsible for their discipline and provided lodging, food and clothing in return for their labour.

Advantages of assignment

Assignment benefited government and private employers alike – the former was relieved of the cost of maintaining transportees while the latter were provided with relatively cheap labour. (Clark, Select Documents, vol. 1, p.130)

Treatment of convicts by private employers

The assignment system was far from uniform in its operation. Benevolent, wealthy employers treated their convict workers well and gave them the opportunity to improve their position and develop the skills needed to begin a new life. Such settlers commonly offered additional incentives such as extra rations, improved accommodation and wages, in order to keep the services of the best men.

By no means all of the wealthy settlers treated their servants well and some were noted for being harsh. The same mixture was to be found among small employers who were themselves often former convicts and lacking in means. They were known to have provided their workers with only the bare minimum of food and shelter and paid for their labour in goods that were of limited use.

Problems with the assignment system

Such variations pointed to major defects in the assignment system, which was by no means easy to administer given that many of the settlers lived in isolated areas. Complaints were also made of injustices in the actual distribution of labour with some settlers being favoured at the expense of others. As the demand for assigned labour grew these inequities became more apparent and contentious.

Tighter control of the system

Following Governor Macquarie's departure and acting upon the recommendations of Commissioner Bigge, successive governors brought the assignment system under closer supervision and endeavoured to redress some of its most glaring imbalances.

Establishment of the Assignment Board

In 1826 Governor Darling set up an Assignment Board to which all applications for convicts had to be sent. Instructions were given to reject potential employers with a reputation for excessive indulgence or cruelty. (Hirst, Convict Society, pp.83, 89, Fletcher, Ralph Darling, pp.93ff). The number of convict clerks working in sensitive areas was reduced and convicts themselves were more frequently withdrawn from abusive work situations. The regulations governing applications for convict labour and the way in which convicts were employed were further tightened by Governor Bourke.

Responsibility for managing convicts

While the Principal Superintendent of Convicts overlooked convict management in general, day-to-day management prior to 1826 was the responsibility of the Chief Engineer.

A major re-organisation took place between 1826 and 1828 when the distribution of convicts was placed under a Board appointed by Governor Darling. (Fletcher, Ralph Darling, pp.93ff, McMartin, Public Servants and Patronage, pp.143ff). The Principal Superintendent of Convicts continued to handle detailed administration and correspondence.

A new Board was created in December 1831 and this, in turn was replaced by the Commissioner for the Assignment of Convict Servants in June 1836. The office of Commissioner was abolished on 1 February 1842.

Abolition of cessation of private assignment

Despite all efforts to improve convict management and redress obvious inequities the assignment system continued to come under fire. Following the highly critical report of the Molesworth Committee assignment to private service ceased on 1 July 1841.

The Convict Establishment was broken up at the end of 1855 and the remaining duties were transferred to the Convict Branch of the Police.

Indexes to the records

• Convict Assignments, 1821-1825
• Index of Convict Assignments in NSW, Vol 1, 1830-32 compiled by Nola M Mackey
• Convicts and Employers (NSW) Index, 1828, 1832–33, Jan 1838–Jan 1844 compiled by Pastkeys
• Convicts Index - certificates of freedom; bank accounts; deaths; exemptions from Government Labor; pardons; tickets of leave; and, tickets of leave passports.
• Index to convicts who arrived in NSW, 1788–1842 compiled by the Genealogical Society of Victoria
• Index to convict exiles arriving, 1846–50
• Convicts to New South Wales 1788-1812 complete listings from the transportation records (compiled and edited by Carol Baxter)
• Index to the Female Factory Parramatta, 1826-1848, Fiche 5290-5291 compiled by Norma M Tuck and Joan Reese
• Index to the Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788–1825
• Joan Reese's NSW Colonial Secretary's In Letters Index to convicts and others, 1826–96, available in the Reading Room
• Index to letters sent re convicts, 1826–May 1855 (compiled by Joan Reese)
• NRS-922 Colonial Secretary's Indexes and Registers, 1826–1900, available in the Reading Room

List of main record series

Records of assignment

Iron’d gangs and road parties

Runaways and absconding assigned servants

Search the Colonial Secretary's Index, 1788-1825 using terms such as absconding, escape and runaways.

NSW Government Gazettes

English newspaper Hue and Cry, and Police Gazette 30 Sep 1797-22 Dec 1810, 18 Jan 1828-30 Dec 1840 (1829 missing) includes lists of escaped convicts. Printed in London every three weeks and contain information relating to convicts in New South Wales and Tasmania, including lists of escaped convicts, lists of deserters from the armed forces and notes of committals in the City of London and country areas Mitchell Library X343.42/1, and MDQ352.205/2.

Runaways and absconding assigned servants

Records of exiles

Other sources

• Musters and Census Records »
• Butts of ticket of leave passports, 1835–69 in the Convicts Index »
• NSW Government Gazettes – NSW Government Gazettes, 1832–50 have been indexed in the Australasian Genealogical Computer Index (AGCI) available through the Society of Australian Genealogists