Day in the life of a convict
Convict Sydney
What was convict assignment?
‘Assignment’ meant that a convict worked for a private landowner
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What clothes did male convicts wear?
The convict men who lived at Hyde Park Barracks were provided with a uniform to mark them as ‘government men’
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Did convicts escape from the Barracks?
From June 1819, unmarried male convicts who were working for the government had to stay at the Hyde Park Barracks
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What food did the convicts eat?
In 1820, the convicts living at the Hyde Park Barracks would have been woken at sunrise by the ringing of a bell in the yard
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What did convicts do in their free time?
After a day of hard work, the convicts were walked back to the Barracks for the evening muster
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What happened to sick or injured convicts?
Convicts were needed to do a lot of work around the colony, so it was important that they were kept healthy
Convict Sydney
What was ‘flash’ language?
Convicts transported to NSW brought a lot of different things with them. In some cases this included their own slang language, called ‘flash’
Convict Sydney
What are convict love tokens?
A convict love token is a coin that convicts gave to their loved ones before they were transported to NSW
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What happened to convicts who broke the rules?
The convicts who lived at the Barracks had to obey lots of rules – more than 200!
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How were convicts rewarded for good behaviour?
While some convicts broke the rules and were punished, most of them worked hard and tried to stay out of trouble
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What work did convicts do?
There was a huge amount of work to do around the town of Sydney, and most of it was done by convicts who did lots of different jobs
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What was life in early Sydney like for convicts?
By 1801 Sydney had grown into a little village with streets and buildings
Convict Sydney
Female migration
For many women in the UK migration was seen as an opportunity to change their fortunes - to escape poverty, find work and start a family
