Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00053:body:0:p50
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00053
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 132286–135302

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 execution as the dominant form of punishment of 'serious crimes' in the modern era. Penal transportation subsequently became one of the dominant models of punishment in Europe from the late 18th to mid 19th century.
The nominated sites are a compelling expression of the dominant use of the transportation system to punish and reform criminals during the 19th century. Spanning nearly 100 years, the sites reflect the shift from corporal punishment to the psychological manipulation of the mind. The nominated sites illustrate French philosopher Michel Foucault's notion of disciplinary punishment. Several sites provide important evidence of the classification of prisoners, the 'separate system', the ticket-of-leave system and the indeterminate sentence system.
The Australian Convict Sites provide physical evidence of significant new ideas and penal practices including segregated prisons for female prisoners and juvenile prisoners and the 'separate system'.
The Australian Convict Sites are closely associated with the decline of the transportation system and rise of national penitentiaries. This was a significant development in the punishment of criminals in the modern era. The nominated sites typify the demise of penal transportation as a major tool of criminal justice. Australia was strongly associated with the decline of the transportation system, as Britain was plagued by ongoing allegations of slavery-like practices and moral contagion in her colonies. The theory and practice of the system began to crumble as penal reformers exerted pressure on the British government for supporting a system akin to slavery at the very time that slavery was being abolished across the world. The abolition of transportation to the Australian colonies was an important contributory factor leading to the emergence of a national penitentiary system across Britain. Britain, the largest global power in the world at the time, introduced a national penitentiary system modelled on the new penitentiaries in America.
The demise of transportation across the British empire had a significant impact on the geo-political makeup of the globe. The large-scale movement of British criminals to new and existing penal colonies ceased by the late 19th century (with some minor exceptions). European powers no longer had a readymade convict force to fulfil their empire building ambitions, and penal colonies evolved into places of free settlement. The Australian Convict Sites demonstrate the outstanding universal values outlined under criteria (iv) and (vi) and are protected to a high level under a comprehensive management system. They are the pre-eminent convict sites among the more than 3,000 convict sites around Australia. The nominated sites are