Cartwheel penny
1797
A penny was referred to in the convict 'flash' slang language, as a win or winchester, and this 1797 'Cartwheel Penny' was found by archaeologists beneath the floors of the convict sleeping wards of Hyde Park Barracks. Cartwheel pennies were one of the coins introduced to the colony and proclaimed by Governor King in 1800 as official colonial currency. At the time, the main currency in the colony was rum (or any spirits), but Governor King arranged for the shipment of tons of British copper coins, and other Indian, Spanish and Dutch coins, and announced that in the colony the copper coins would be worth twice their face value, so that they would not be taken away by those leaving. As the shipments arrived from 1799, these ‘Proclamation coins’ gradually came into circulation and were widely used by the colonists. Convicts were paid with coins like this one, for work they did after their government work finished each day at 3pm. At the markets and grog shops, convicts could spend their copper pennies to buy food, tobacco and drinks. Some even used them for gambling games like ‘chuck penny’ or 'pitch and toss'.
...scores of convicts are actually amusing themselves a great part of the day by playing pitch and toss.
Sydney Gazette, 1835
Related artefacts
Convict Sydney
Objects
These convict-era objects and archaeological artefacts found at Hyde Park Barracks and The Mint (Rum Hospital) are among the rarest and most personal artefacts to have survived from Australia’s early convict period
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Convict Sydney
Clock-winding crank
This sturdy crank was used for many years to wind the Hyde Park Barracks clock
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Hack barrow
Convict brickmakers working at the Brickfields (now Haymarket) used hack barrows like this one, stacking 20 or 30 wet bricks on the timber palings along the top, for transporting them from the moulding table to the ‘hack’ yard for drying
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Cupping glasses & scarificator
These cupping glasses are of the type that was used in the treatment of convict patients at the General ‘Rum’ Hospital
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Love token, Smith
Joseph Smith arrived in New South Wales in April 1818, while Hyde Park Barracks was under construction
Convict Sydney
Love token, Daws
James Daws was convicted of stealing pennies (coins) in late 1825 or early 1826
Convict Sydney
Love token, Donovan
This very detailed token was probably made by a nineteen year old called Cornelius Donovan
Convict Sydney
What was convict assignment?
‘Assignment’ meant that a convict worked for a private landowner
Convict Sydney
Love token, Woodcock
The simple lettering on this love token with his name on it suggests that John Woodcock may have engraved it himself, while he awaited his transportation
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Cooking cauldron
The watery stew eaten by convicts at Hyde Park Barracks was boiled in giant communal cast iron pots
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Convict coins
This early colonial currency tells us that all kinds of coins changed convict hands at the Barracks