E X T E N S I O N TRANSPOR TATION TO AUSTRALIA Between 1788 and 1868 more than 160,000 convicts were transported to Australia from England and Ireland; of them, 3,000 died during the voyage. Most convicts were sent to New South Wales or Tasmania while Western Australia only started receiving convicts in 1850. In 18th century England the gap between rich and poor was huge. The population was rapidly growing and there weren t enough jobs, so the only way people could survive was to steal. More and more people were turning to crime, and there seemed to be no way to stop them. The government began sentencing criminals to death for almost any offence. A murderer or a thief could all get the same sentence. It was too expensive to build more jails, and the English upper class didn t want to have to see people suffering in chain gangs1. Everyone wanted to forget the problem. The best idea seemed to take the prisoners to another country where England owned land, and leave them there. This was called transportation. Transportation had been used since the beginning of the eighteenth century. Usually, convicts were taken to the British colony of America, but the American War of Independence (1775-1783) changed all that 1. chain gang: prigionieri ai lavori forzati incatenati gli uni agli altri. Convicts bound to Australia (c. 1850). 96