In 1788, British captain Arthur Phillip with a dozen ships entered the bay and founded the settlement of Sydney Crove on the coast of the newly discovered continent of Australia, which later became Sydney. The development of Australia has begun. But … there were no people willing to go to a distant continent in Britain. Labor shortages and America's refusal to accept prisoners after the Revolutionary War forced the British government to make a decision: it began to send convicts to Australia.
For decades, yesterday's thugs, burglars, crooks of all stripes, prostitutes - thousands of people with no education, who were in conflict with the law, were transported there. The situation began to change only in 1850, when gold deposits were discovered in open pit mines. When the ships returned to England with eight tons of gold from Australia, the London Times stated in 1852:
Reports of gold nuggets found in Australia have stirred up British society. I remembered fresh reports from America, where in 1848 seemingly uncountable reserves of gold were discovered in California. Thousands of adventurers were drawn there. But only a few managed to get wealth. The overwhelming majority of the miners, unable to withstand the hardships, simply died.
Happiness smiled, it seemed, to England itself - gold was found in its new colony. The British government immediately began to widely disseminate impressive information about the new "gold rush" - in Australia, gold is literally underfoot, as soon as they dig. Do you want to become rich? To do this, you need to enlist in any of the mining companies.
On one of the central streets of London, Pall Mall, gold bars were displayed in the window of a ship company that transported convicts. People crowded around the window from morning till night. They familiarized themselves with the terms of shipment. True, there were experts who said that it was not worth going to Australia - this is a gigantic prison in the ocean, a haven for rapists. People are sent there who cannot find a place for themselves in British society. An English gentleman has no place among them.
But these reasonable considerations already worked on few people. The words "gold rush" captured people's imaginations. The situation was fueled by two more reports: in 1869 a nugget weighing over 70 kilograms was found in Australia, which was immediately dubbed "The Welcome Stranger."
Three years later, even greater success: at the Hill End mine, Australian workers mined the world's largest gold nugget, the "Holterman Plate" - 144 by 66 centimeters and weighing 286 kilograms!
Photos of the nugget immediately appeared in British newspapers. Next to the happy faces of the workers. These campaign materials played a role. People were queuing up to the shipping companies.
But the situation with convicts in Australia itself was very difficult. With them it was required to send troops. The arriving contingent was poorly managed, reluctant to go to work, and difficulties arose with them. For the most part, these people from the lower social classes were fluent in jargon, were distinguished by their tactless behavior and, of course, did not lose their acquired "professional" skills. Only there was nowhere to apply them special. Under escort they went to the mines, under escort they studied professions, under escort they returned to the barracks.
There were clashes between the miners and the government. The Eureka Uprising of 1854, in which 30 prospectors and 20 soldiers were killed. Gold prospectors demanded the introduction of universal suffrage, the abolition of the property qualification for candidates for members of parliament, the establishment of salaries for members of parliament, etc. Also, gold prospectors demanded the abolition of licenses for gold mining.
In 1868, it was no longer necessary to send criminal elements to Australia. The British government fulfilled its task - people went to this country voluntarily. For gold. For happiness. And not only the British were traveling, but also the Irish, Germans, French, Chinese. There was no end to those willing. By 1871, Australia's population had grown from 540,000 to a whopping 1.7 million. The discovery of gold led to the country's economic growth, years of hard labor were followed by decades of prosperity.
In 1901, the Australian Federation was created. Entry into the country for non-Europeans was practically prohibited. In subsequent years, the Australian boom continued, reserves of oil, iron, tin, and uranium were discovered in Cleveland. Australia has become a promised country - children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of former convicts have become full-fledged citizens of a prosperous state. They did not forget their ancestors, and the tragic history of the not so distant past of the country was displayed in museums.