Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L01891:body:0:p48
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L01891
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 139939–142892

the majority of the penal colony's
structures. Additionally, the harbour, pier and outbuildings maintain their function as a port, and many pine
trees from the convict period still remain. Some of the most significant collections of convict materials are
housed at the KAVHA site such as artefacts, official documents, personal narratives, paintings, poetry and
fictionalised accounts of convict life.

The Second (Penal) Settlement 1825-1855 at the KAVHA site was designed to deter crime in Britain and
the colonies by reviving the fear of transportation. The place soon earned an international reputation as
'hell on earth' through the severity of punishment, comparative to some of the world's harshest penal
settlements. Key features that illustrate this are the Crankmill, the Convict Barracks, the New Gaol, the
Police Office, the Civil Hospital and the cemetery. In the Crankmill, 96 convicts at a time were used to
crank heavy machinery to grind maize in strict silence. Although more efficient and productive

Kingston and Arthur's Vale Historic Area—Heritage Management Plan, April 2016

Authorised Version F2016L01891 registered 09/12/2016

Jean Rice Architect | CONTEXT | GML Heritage

technologies were available at the time, advancement of the economy was secondary to the goal of
severe punishment. In the Convict Barracks, thousands faced near starvation, arbitrary or severe
punishment, violence, death and suicide. The New Gaol illustrates one of the most extreme forms of
psychological punishment where convicts were lowered through a trapdoor to the underground solitary
'dumb' cells to remain in darkness and silence day and night, as if buried alive. Convicts received their
sentences in the Police Office, which functioned as a courthouse. The Civil Hospital was a place of severe
overcrowding and also where the 1834 uprising began. Hundreds of convicts died at the KAVHA site and
many of their graves survive at the cemetery, including those who took part in the 1834 uprising and the
mass burial ground for those executed after the 1846 mutiny.

The KAVHA site provides a significant record of how transportation was used to rehabilitate criminals
through Maconochie's reformatory 'mark system.' Under this system of rewards or 'marks,' convicts
became responsible for the length of their sentence and could progress through the classes from separate
imprisonment to 'social treatment' where small groups of convicts worked together to teach social
responsibility and mutual dependence. Marks were earned or deducted based on behaviour, and harsh
punishments were abolished with loss of marks becoming the main form of punishment. Each convict was
given a plot of soil to encourage cultivation and a sense of property rights. A school was set up with
educational resources, and music therapy taught collaboration and discipline. During Maconochie's term
of office, convicts constructed two churches, several officers' houses on