History of New South Wales
From the Records
VOLUME 1 - GOVERNOR
PHILLIP 1783-1789
G. B. Barton - 1889
PART III
Statistics of Transportation
THE following Return, showing the Number of Convicts Transported to New South Wales, from 1787 to 1841, when Transportation to the Colony ceased, has been prepared by T. A. Coghlan, Esq., the Government Statistician, from the authorities mentioned:-
"Transported from the United Kingdom. In other years the numbers of convicts arriving in New South Wales are given.
These tables have been compiled from the following authorities (1):-
1787 - Collins, Account of the English Colony in New South Wales; introduction, p. III.
1789 to 1794 - A return of the number of persons, male and female, who have been transported as convicts to New South Wales since the first establishment of the colony, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 15th February, 1810.
1795 to 1810 - Appendix, 29 and 30, to report of Select Committee on Transportation, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 10th July, 1812.
1811 to 1820 - Account of the total number of ships which have proceeded from ports of Great Britain and Ireland with convicts for New South Wales, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 19th April, 1821; and a Return of the number of convicts, male and female, sent out of the United Kingdom from 5th January, 1816, to 5th January, 1822, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 27th March, 1822.
1821 to 1823 - Account of convicts transported to British Colonies during 1822 and 1823, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 18th March, 1824.
1825 to 1841 - From the records in the office of the Government Statistician.
THE following Return, compiled from the Census of 1841, shows the Number of Persons then living who were, or had been previously, under Sentence of Transportation.
NOTES:
1. All the returns on this subject, so far as they relate to the First Fleet, differ from one another:-
PHILLIP'S VOYAGE contains, in an appendix, "a list of Convicts sent to New South Wales in 1787," giving their names, where convicted, date of conviction, and term of sentence. The total number thus stated amounts to 775. But a summary in the preface gives different results; the number being:- 600 male convicts, 250 females; total, 850; while another summary at p.13 makes the number of male convicts, 586; of female, 192; total, 778.
LIEUTENANT KING'S MS. JOURNAL of the Voyage to Botany Bay gives a specific account of each ship in the Fleet, including the number of convicts on board the transports. The number of male convicts is stated by him at 563, the female at 189; total, 752.
COLLINS, in the introduction to his Account of the Colony, gives a similar return, showing the number of male convicts on board at 564; of females, 192; total, 756.
The HISTORY OF NEW HOLLAND, published by Stockdale in 1787, before the departure of the Fleet, states the number of male convicts at 600; of females at 178; total, 778.
COLQUHOUN, Police of the Metropolis, p. 472, gives the returns from 1787 to 1797 from Parliamentary Papers, differing slightly from those above.
