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Australian Convict Sites 71 PART 3 JUSTIFICATION FOR INSCRIPTION The Australian Convict Sites are nominated under criteria (iv) and (vi) for their outstanding universal significance as: ➣ an exceptional example of the forced migration of convicts – an important stage of human history (criterion iv); and ➣ a significant example of global ideas and developments associated with the punishment and reform of the criminal elements of humanity during the Age of Enlightenment and the modern era (criterion vi). 72 3.A JUSTIFICATION The Australian Convict Sites represent the outstanding universal values of the great suffering of many millions of criminal offenders and political dissidents as well as the hopes of the Age of Enlightenment to rehabilitate the criminal elements of society. The forced migration of convicts was inextricably intertwined with several other significant global phenomena that preceded, coincided with or followed it. These include: the intercontinental migration of indentured labourers, enslaved peoples and free peoples around the world; the anti-slavery and anti-transportation movements; and the drive by state powers to establish a more rational and humane treatment of the criminal elements of society following the Age of Enlightenment. The advent of transportation and penal colonies had an impact on, and were influenced by these world changing events. The Australian Convict Sites manifest important elements of these global developments. Criterion (iv) Collectively, the Australian Convict Sites are an outstanding ➣ use of transportation by nation states as a mechanism for example of an architectural ensemble which illustrate the control of law and order. The establishment of penal a significant stage in human history, that of the forced colonies to punish criminal offenders and deter crime in migration of convicts. Through these buildings the the home state was an immediate and long-term objective Australian Convict Sites demonstrate the main features of transportation systems; and of the global systems of transportation and convictism. ➣ use of transportation by state powers to reform the These were: criminal elements of humanity. Penal systems were ➣ use of transportation as a strategic tool to expand the introduced to rehabilitate criminals into productive home state’s spheres of influence. Many state powers citizens and integrate them into the new colonies or used convicts to build new colonies in order to expand for their return to the home state. their economic, military and political influence across the world; Table 3.1: Australian Convict Sites illustrating the key elements of the forced migration of convicts. CRITERION (IV) EXPANDING PUNISHMENT REFORMATION THEMATIC ELEMENTS GEO-POLITICAL AND OF CONVICTS SPHERES OF DETERRENCE SITE INFLUENCE KAVHA ✓✓✓ Old Government House ✓ Hyde Park Barracks ✓ Old Great North Road ✓✓ Cockatoo Island ✓ Brickendon–Woolmers ✓✓ Darlington ✓ Cascades ✓✓✓ Port Arthur ✓✓✓ Coal Mines ✓✓ Fremantle Prison ✓✓ 73 Over many decades, state powers pursued this mixture of economic, political and penal objectives and were generally able to achieve broad compatibility between them. While the dual goals of punishment and reform occurred simultaneously throughout the convict era, the emphasis often shifted as governments gave greater attention to one goal over the other. The history of convictism exhibited a pattern of peaks and troughs with alternating periods of increased efforts to rehabilitate convicts and periods of more severe punishment. Nevertheless, punishment and reformation continued to be pursued concurrently. See Appendix D. Criterion (vi) The Australian Convict Sites are of outstanding universal significance for their association with global developments in ideas and beliefs about punishment and reform of the criminal elements of humanity in the modern era. These included: ➣ consolidation and expansion of the transportation system as one of the dominant models of punishment of crime by European powers in the 19th century; ➣ emergence of new forms of punishment including the shift from corporal punishment to psychological punishment, and the development of segregated prisons for female and juvenile criminals; and Leaving family and homeland behind, convicts start their ➣ influence of transportation on the rise of national journey to a foreign land. penitentiary system in Europe. Reproduced courtesy of: Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania. Table 3.2: Australian Convict Sites associated with key elements of penology developments in the modern era. CRITERION PENAL SHIFT IN THE PUNISHMENT OF INFLUENCE ON (VI) THEMATIC TRANSPORTATION CRIME IN MODERN ERA FROM EMERGENCE OF ELEMENTS AS DOMINANT PUNISHING THE BODY TO NATIONAL MODEL PENITENTIARY PSYCHOLOGICAL PUNISHMENT SYSTEM SITE KAVHA ✓ ‘separate system’ Old Government House ✓ Hyde Park Barracks ✓ Brickendon–Woolmers ✓ assignment system Darlington ✓ probation system Old Great North Road ✓ Cascades ✓ female factory system Port Arthur ✓ ‘open air’ panopticon, ‘separate system’ and segregated boys prison Coal Mines ✓ Cockatoo Island ✓ Fremantle Prison ✓ panopticon design prison and ‘separate ✓ system’ 74 Criterion (iv) An outstanding example of a type of building or architectural or technical ensemble or landscape which illustrates a significant stage in human history Major convict site – including where there was a purpose built penal settlement Minor convict site – including where convicts were used for labour The transportation of convicts to Australia, more than 160,000 male and female convicts, represented the largest forced exile of citizens at the behest of a European government in modern history.97 The Australian Convict Sites are of outstanding universal value as a representation of the era of penal transportation. Convictism was one of the three major forms of intercontinental forced migration in world history. Slavery and indentured labour were the other main types. Convictism had similarities to these forms of forced migration but there were also several unique elements. Forced migration falls within the priority thematic areas of the ‘movement of peoples’ and ‘settlement’ under UNESCO’s Global Strategy. This strategy aims to increase the representation of places on the World Heritage List that demonstrate these and other globally important thematic areas.98 Several properties demonstrating slavery and 1880. A group of slaves chained together travel to be sold at a market. Reproduced courtesy of: Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial indentured labour are inscribed on the World Heritage Williamsburg, Va. List. No places have been inscribed for convictism. the colonisation process as convicts formed the vanguard The forced migration of convicts to penal colonies had to settle and develop new and existing colonies around a significant impact on global developments from the the globe. Sometimes convict labour was instrumental in ‘early modern’ to the ‘modern’ period. In contrast to the replacing enslaved peoples following the abolition of slavery. forced migration of slaves and indentured labourers, penal Transportation is an important part of world history, as an transportation was a new epoch for punishing crime in example of the subjugation of one part of humankind by the world. Prisoners convicted of criminal offences were another. It inflicted immense suffering on the lives of several transported to penal colonies as a new form of punishment million convicts, ex-convicts and their families. Yet penal that lasted for several centuries. Penal transportation had transportation also ushered in an era of enlightenment and an important influence on the political, economic and hope for the criminal elements of humanity. Unlike slavery, military development of many European nation states and convictism was associated with the uplifting elements of empires during this period. It played an important role in human history. Transportation offered unprecedented 75 opportunities for prisoners to build new lives free of crime demonstrate unusual features of convictism including for themselves and their descendents in a new colony. diverse and complex penal systems as well as exceptional This was not the case for most slaves. experiments to punish and reform convicts. The transportation of convicts to penal colonies was a The Australian Convict Sites are directly associated with vast global phenomenon predominantly from the 17th to the 20th collections of convict materials that have no equivalent in centuries.99 The forced migration of more than one million the world.103 The collections comprise: artefacts; official British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Indian documents that record the regulation of convict lives in convicts to America, Australia, the Straits Settlements extraordinary detail; personal narratives; paintings and (Singapore, Penang and Malacca), Mauritius, Bermuda, sketches; poetry and ballads; and fictionalised accounts Gibraltar, French Guiana, Sakhalin Island and the Andaman of convict life.104 These materials evoke the experience of Islands was a major feature of intercontinental migration .100 the forced migration of convicts and greatly enhance our The figure swells to two and a quarter million if the forced knowledge of this important stage of human history.105 They migration of Russians to Siberia is included although only constitute a globally unique convict-centred perspective of some of these were convicts.101 This was an important stage the processes associated
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