In 1790, the warship "Miss Julian" with 221 exiled female prisoners set out from England to Australia, and arrived five months later, but more than 200 pregnant women disembarked...
In the 18th century, Britain was prosperous, colonies all over the world, and the British claimed that the sun shone on the British territory 24 hours a day, so Britain's is also known as the "Sun Never Sets Empire".
The British soon discovered a problem, there were many colonies, but not enough people. But what kind of people can be sent to the colony? They came up with a good way to exile all the criminals who had made mistakes, which they called "a new life." ”
But after some time, something went wrong in the colony. At that time, the United States, the largest penal colony in Britain, broke out in the War of Independence, and for a time British criminals had no place to exile.
Fortunately, coincidentally, in 1770, the Englishman Cook discovered the new continent of Australia. As the saying goes, "When you are sleepy, you have a pillow." "The British leaders hit it off and sent the prisoners to Australia and let them reclaim and build a new home!
In 1788, the British gathered 6 ships and headed for Australia. A total of 1,530 people were there, of whom 736 were prisoners, mostly men.
It is said to be "reclaiming a new home", but in fact, some people cannot get to the shore. At that time, the sailing conditions on the sea were still very harsh.
On the one hand, the living conditions on the ship are not good, even if someone is sick, they are all huddled together, and whether they can resist depends on their own immunity; On the other hand, the danger factor of sea navigation still exists, and in front of the sea, human lives are as small as ants.
So every voyage has people who can't hold on and die halfway. Fortunately, the beginning of the exiled prisoners was relatively smooth, and since then many prisoners have been transported one after another.
The colony was gradually established, and the British government at the time discovered another problem: the ratio of men and women in the colony was not good and could not reproduce.
So in 1790, the British organized a warship "Miss Julian" with 221 female prisoners on board. They had only one task: to reproduce heirs for the colony.
These female prisoners are basically special professions such as prostitutes and dancers, and they are good-looking, so the sailors of that ship were robbed by many people when they were selected. The reason for this is well known: it will be a wonderful voyage for sailors.
From Britain to Australia, it can be said that it spans half the world, and British warships can only stop and go. And the favorite pastime of these sailors was this group of women.
At the beginning there were people who resisted, but what if a ship adrift on the sea, even if it resisted?
So gradually some female prisoners used themselves as gifts in exchange for more comfortable treatment, or a sip of wine, a delicious piece of bread. Over time, the atmosphere on the ship changed completely.
Later, the sailors got tired of playing and began to "exploit" more value of this group of female prisoners.
For example, every time they docked, they could attract guests on board at a high price and experience the pleasure of wit, and these "tuned" women were already willing to obey the sailors' orders. They even offer to solicit customers.
For five months, the dignity and principles of this group of female prisoners as human beings were repeatedly broken, and when they landed, the officials who handed over were stunned, and the more than 200 female prisoners who said that they were good turned into more than 200 pregnant women!
But this is nothing, originally this group of women has no status, just a "tool" to reproduce. The British would love to see them have children here and live forever.
Because of the success of the previous stage, Britain exiled about 170,000 prisoners to Australia in the next 80 years, of which women accounted for about 14%, or about 24,000.
Male prisoners continue to undergo labor reform according to their original occupations, while women have children most importantly. Some of them, even after starting a family, did not want to leave the land even if they were free.
And those 24,000 women are often referred to as Australia's "founding mothers."
Although it is often said that Australia is a "country built by prisoners", people now do not care, whether they admit it or not, it is now an independent immigration country and will no longer be manipulated at will.
bibliography
"The Development and Evolution of Factory Management for Women Prisoners in Australia during the Colonial Period (1788-1854)", Xue Huiyun, Cultural Journal
