Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00053:body:0:p49
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00053
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 129493–132552

typical cycle of convicts in the colonies who experienced many of these systems from the time of their arrival until their emancipation or death.
The scale of transportation to Australia was far greater than any other penal colony in the world in terms of numbers sent, duration of the journey and area settled. The transportation of over one million prisoners and destitute Russians to Siberia during the 18th and 19th centuries is an outstanding example of forced migration. However, it is not representative of the key elements of the forced migration of convicts. The 80 year duration of transportation to Australia was the longest in the history of convictism. Australia is the only example of convicts making a major contribution to European settlement and development of a continent that later became a nation. Convicts and ex-convicts were the primary instrument of colonisation across Australia unlike many other penal colonies where convicts complemented free workers, indentured labourers or slaves. Australia's convicts populated the colonies, shaped the social fabric and developed the first buildings, churches, roads, bridges, farms and industrial works across vast spaces. Convicts comprised the vast majority of the first European settlers and the colonies remained dependent on convict and ex-convict labour for more than a generation after the end of transportation. The nominated sites demonstrate exceptional regimes to rehabilitate convicts which were a central element of Australia's convict system. Australia's innovative systems were amongst the first of their kind for managing and rehabilitating female, male and juvenile convicts.
Many of the nominated sites illustrate unique systems to discipline and reform juvenile convicts and female convicts, as well as the reformatory achievements under Governor Macquarie, Lieutenant-Governor Arthur and Commandant Maconochie.
The Australian Convict Sites are of outstanding universal significance for their association with ideas and beliefs about the punishment and reform of criminals in the modern era. The system of penal transportation intersected with philosophical ideas and other global developments in the punishment of crime following the Age of Enlightenment. The drive to establish national penitentiary systems was a major force. The transportation system and these broader penology developments influenced one another and affected the course of the punishment of crime during the 18th and 19th centuries. The nominated sites provide extensive physical evidence of these pioneering ideas and developments. The sites are representative of the spread of penal transportation around the globe.
Australia's penal colonies had an important impact on France and Russia. Both nations sought to replicate Australia's success when deciding to establish their first penal colonies in New Caledonia, French Guiana and Sakhalin Island. The Australian Convict Sites are a symbolic representation of this influence. The spread of transportation had an important influence on the decline of