Question: why did great britain found australia as a penal colony

title: Convicts in Australia
text: The British government began transporting convicts overseas to American colonies in the early 17th century . When transportation ended with the start of the American Revolution , an alternative site was needed to relieve further overcrowding of British prisons and hulks . Earlier in 1770 , James Cook charted and claimed possession of the east coast of Australia for Britain . Seeking to pre-empt the French colonial empire from expanding into the region , Britain chose Australia as the site of a penal colony , and in 1787 , the First Fleet of eleven convict ships set sail for Botany Bay , arriving on 20 January 1788 to found Sydney , New South Wales , the first European settlement on the continent . Other penal colonies were later established in Van Diemen 's Land ( Tasmania ) in 1803 and Queensland in 1824 , while Western Australia , founded in 1829 as a free colony , received convicts from 1850 . Victoria and South Australia remained free colonies . Penal transportation to Australia peaked in the 1830s and dropped off significantly the following decade . The last convict ship arrived in Western Australia on 10 January 1868 . 

Answer: answer: The British government began transporting convicts overseas to American colonies in the early 17th century. When transportation ended with the start of the American Revolution, an alternative site was needed to relieve further overcrowding of British prisons and hulks.  Seeking to pre-empt the French colonial empire from expanding into the region, Britain chose Australia as the site of a penal colony.
answer: The British government began transporting convicts overseas to American colonies in the early 17th century. When transportation ended with the start of the American Revolution, an alternative site was needed to relieve further overcrowding of British prisons and hulks. Earlier in 1770 , James Cook charted and claimed possession of the east coast of Australia for Britain . Seeking to pre-empt the French colonial empire from expanding into the region, Britain chose Australia as the site of a penal colony.