why did brisbane free settlement
It was moved to the site of Brisbane the following year. By 1829 there were almost 1000 prisoners, more than 100 of whom were women, but by 1839 only 107 convicts remained. The penal era ended in 1842 when the Moreton Bay area was opened to free settlement, with Brisbane Town as its centre.Today, only the Windmill Tower and the Commissariat Store, both built by convict labour, still stand as markers of those times.enal Colony and Early Settlement History. During some of the earliest chapters of Australian exploration, it was decided that a second penal colony should be established at Redcliffe in 1824 to house the most recalcitrant of Sydneyâs convicts.