Parkhust Boys: Western Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Victoria

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Parkhurst Boys 1842-1862

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Although not officially classed as convicts, another group of convict boys called the Parkhurst Boys were sent to Western Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Victoria and even to Norfolk Island. They had been rehabilitated at Parkhurst Prison and were transported under a similar arrangement to the exiles who began to arrive a few years later. The aim was to apprentice them to local settlers.

In the ten years between 1842 and 1852 just under 1499 boys aged from twelve to eighteen were transported to Australia and New Zealand from Britain's Parkhurst Prison. Parkhurst was designed especially for boys and was built on the Isle of Wight. On December 26, 1838, Robert Woollcombe, the prison governor, arrived at Parkhurst with a team of taskmasters and the first 102 boys.

The prison was enlarged and extended during its time as a juvenile prison and until that time on March 30, 1864, the boys did much of the work as part of their training in carpentry, stonework and ironwork. In all, 4088 boys passed through the Parkhurst system.

Ironically, 1838 also saw a British Parliamentary Committee hand down a report claiming that 'transportation was no deterrent for crime' and with free settlers in Australia beginning to object to the arrival of convicts, new practices were put in place at Parkhurst. It was to train its boys and elevate them to a higher standard than those held in other prisons such as Millbank and Pentonville.

Unsuitable boys were returned to the other prisons or transported as ordinary convicts and before it closed in 1864, a total of 133 boys were disposed of in that manner - 12 in its first year, 1839, and its largest group of 79 being transported in 1844.

Those boys were not regarded as Parkhurst boys or juvenile immigrants and were not included in the 1499 mentioned above. The juvenile migrant scheme was based on the idea that although no Australian colony other than Tasmania would accept more convicts, they would be glad to receive trained labour. Accordingly, the Parkhurst boys were divided into four classes:

free emigrants
colonial apprentices
an orderly but not reliable group
boys with sentences over 10 years

Thirty of the first group were earmarked for transportation to Auckland in New Zealand while it was decided to send the apprentices to either Western Australia or New Zealand. Boys in the other two groups were still considered to be of good enough character to be sent to a colony without convicts and the Port Phillip settlement in Victoria was suggested, but if not, they should go to Tasmania as apprentices and not transportees.

On 20 August 1842 the 'Simon Taylor' arrived in Western Australia carrying the first batch of juvenile immigrants from Parkhurst. It was the first of nine ships which carried 332 of the 334 boys destined for Western Australia. In the same period, ten ships carried 527 boys to Tasmania, two ships carried 123 boys to New Zealand, and six ships carried 515 boys to Victoria.

The last group of boys sent out to the colonies arrived in 1852. However, a lone boy also arrived in Western Australia in 1852 and another in 1861, but the prison records do not say why they were sent.

In his book, 'Fate of the Artful Dodger', Paul Buddee provided a detailed table of the ships which transported the Parkhurst boys and how the boys were classified. Since Buddee's book is getting harder to locate, his table is reproduced for the benefit of researchers.

Buddee provided abreviated passenger lists as well and in time more expanded passenger lists will be added to this site. Western Australian ships will be the first and some of the sources that have been consulted are:

Parkhurst Prison Register HO 24/15 [Acc 1829 Battye Library Perth WA, index on microfiche]
A Register of Parkhurst Convicts Apprenticed in WA 1842-1851 [Andrew Gill, 1992, ISBN 09593472 40]
AJCP Reel 448 CO 18/58 letter #70 [Report by Rev. Wittenoom, Guardian of Juveniles in WA]
Fate of the Artful Dodger - Parkhurst Boys transported to Australia & New Zealand 1842-1852 [Paul Buddee, 1984]

MERCHANT SHIPS WHICH TRANSPORTED PARKHURST BOYS

App

T/L

3rd

4th

Ship's Name         Departed      Arrived       Port       Free   App  T/L   3rd   4th  Exile  Total           Comments
                  Day Mth Year  Day Mth Year

Simon Taylor       28 04 1842    20 08 1842  Swan River     ..    18    ..    ..    ..    ..     18   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
St George          31 05 1842    25 11 1842  New Zealand    35    57    ..    ..    ..    ..     92   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Shepherd           19 06 1843    26 10 1843  Swan River     ..    28    ..    ..    ..    ..     28   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Mandarin           21 06 1843    16 10 1843  Tasmania       11    ..    40    ..    ..    ..     51   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
                                 14 11 1843  New Zealand    22    ..     9    ..    ..    ..     31   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Halifax Packet     20 08 1844    11 12 1844  Swan River     ..    18    ..    ..    ..    ..     18   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Strathedin         03 08 1845    25 12 1845  Tasmania       ..    ..    32    21    21    ..     74   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Cumberland         30 09 1845    26 01 1846  Swan River     ..    12    ..    ..    ..    ..     12   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Maitland           22 05 1846    27 10 1846  Port Phillip   ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    70     70   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Thomas Arbuthnot   11 01 1847    04 05 1847  Port Phillip   ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    89     89   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Joseph Somes       25 05 1847    10 09 1847  Port Phillip   ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    84     84   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Marion             17 09 1847    25 01 1848  Port Phillip   ..    ..    ..    ..    ..   125    125   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Orient             23 11 1847    20 03 1848  Swan River     ..    51    ..    ..    ..    ..     51   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Eden               09 03 1848    04 02 1849  Port Phillip   ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    62     62   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Ameer              01 11 1848    11 02 1849  Swan River     ..    50    ..    ..    ..    ..     50   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...

Ship's Name         Departed      Arrived       Port       Free   App  T/L   3rd   4th  Exile  Total           Comments
                  Day Mth Year  Day Mth Year

Hashemy            24 11 1848    .. .. 1849  Tasmania       ..    ..    29    ..    ..    ..     29   Six boys died of cholera and never arrived in Tasmania; arrived in NSW on 9/6/1849
Randolf            18 01 1849    09 08 1849  Port Phillip   ..    ..    85    ..    ..    ..     85   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Mary               04 07 1849    24 10 1849  Swan River     ..    53    ..    ..    ..    ..     53   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Adelaide           03 08 1849    29 11 1849  Tasmania       ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    30     30   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Blenheim           01 04 1850    24 07 1850  Tasmania       ..    ..    85    ..    ..    ..     85   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Maria Somes        30 04 1850    09 08 1850  Tasmania       ..    ..    30    ..    ..    ..     30   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Nile               26 06 1850    03 10 1850  Tasmania       ..    ..    30    ..    ..    ..     30   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Rodney             25 08 1850    28 11 1850  Tasmania       ..    ..    40    ..    ..    ..     40   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Mermaid            01 01 1851    15 05 1851  Swan River     ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    43     43   Sent to Western Australia to work on Public Works projects
Lady Kennaway      05 02 1851    28 05 1851  Tasmania & NI  ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    ..     ..   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Pyrenees           30 03 1851    28 06 1851  Swan River     ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    29     29   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Minden             07 07 1851    18 10 1851  Swan River     ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    30     30   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Aboukir            .. .. 1851    15 12 1851  Tasmania       ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    ..     ..   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Fairlie            .. .. 185.    02 03 1852  Tasmania       ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    ..     ..   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Equestrian         .. .. 1852    19 08 1852  Tasmania       ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    ..     ..   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Oriental Queen     .. .. 1852    13 10 1852  Tasmania       ..    ..    ..    ..    ..    ..     ..   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Dudbrook           .. .. 1852    07 02 1853  Swan River     ..    ..    ..    ..    ..     1      1   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Lincelles          .. .. 1861    28 01 1862  Swan River     ..    ..    ..    ..    ..     1      1   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...

The Parkhurst Boys who were sent out to Western Australia after regular convict transportation to the colony began in 1850 were carried on regular convict transports and were administered by the local Convict Establishment after their arrival. As such, they have already been covered elsewhere on this site and links to their respective convict transports are provided below.

Click on the number of boys for the voyages involved in the list below to get a pop-up window showing the Parkhurst boys who were travelling on each voyage.

Click on the names transports in the list below to be transfered to the complete passenger list with expanded details.

Mermaid      15 05 1851  43 boys arrived at the Swan River for Public Works projects
Pyrenees     28 06 1851  29 boys arrived at the Swan River 
Minden       18 10 1851  30 boys arrived at the Swan River 
Dudbrook     07 02 1853   1 boy arrived at the Swan River 
Lincelles    28 01 1862   1 boy arrived at the Swan River