The Parkhurst apprentices, juveniles from a reformatory attached to Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, were sentenced to "transportation beyond the seas" and transported to Australia and New Zealand between 1842 and 1852. Either before leaving England[1] or on arrival at their destination,[2] they were pardoned on the conditions that they be "apprenticed" to local employers, and that they not return to England during the term of their sentence. In the ten years between 1842 and 1852 nearly 1500 boys aged from twelve to eighteen were transported to Australia and New Zealand from Parkhurst Prison.
Parkhurst apprentices in Western Australia
Early in 1839, Governor of Western AustraliaJohn Hutt received from the Colonial Office a circular asking if the colony would be prepared to accept juvenile prisoners who had first been reformed in "penitentiaries especially adapted for the purpose of their education and reformation". After seeking comment from the Western Australian Agricultural Society, Hutt responded that "The Majority of the Community would not object to boys not above 15 years of age...." but that the labour market could not support more than 30 boys per year.
Between 1842 and 1849, Western Australia accepted 234 Parkhurst apprentices, all males aged between 10 and 21 years. As Western Australia was not then a penal colony, contemporary documents scrupulously avoided referring to the youths as "convicts", and most historians have maintained the distinction. An opposing view, held for example by Gill (2004), is that the Parkhurst apprentices were convicts, and that their apprenticeship constituted convict assignment.[3]
John Schoales jun. (c. 1810 – 10 April 1847), son of John Schoales QC of Dublin.[4] was appointed Guardian of the apprentices. He determined the allowance they were paid, holding it in trust until their 5-year indenture period was over. The Parkhurst Visitors insisted that names of the boys not be published in the Government Gazette, in order that they were not discriminated against. Schoales was succeeded as Guardian by Frederick Dirck Wittenoom (c. 1821–1863).[5]
The assimilation of Parkhurst apprentices played an important role in the later acceptance of convicts in Western Australia.
New Zealand
One hundred and twenty three Parkhurst apprentices were sent to the Colony of New Zealand in 1842 and 1843. These had not been invited to the convict-free colony, and were a great surprise when the first ship arrived. After the second ship, the colony successfully petitioned that no more would be sent.[6]
^Gill (2004), page 1: "Once in the colony, they were pardoned on two conditions..."
^Statham (1981), page 6" "... these boys had received conditional pardons prior to leaving England..."
^Robbins, W.M. review of Gill's (2004) Convict Assignment at "| Book Review | Labour History, 88 | the History Cooperative". Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2010. (vol 88. May 2005) 'In short, Gill argues that convict transportation to WA arrived in a disguised form and at an earlier time than is commonly thought. Between 1842 and 1852 Gill finds that 243 young British juvenile offenders were transported to WA even though officially they were described as 'apprentices' '
^"Advertising". The Inquirer. No. 350. Western Australia. 14 April 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 6 April 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
Gill, Andrew (1997) Forced labour for the west : Parkhurst convicts 'apprenticed' in Western Australia 1842–1851 Maylands, W.A. : Blatellae Books, ISBN0-9593472-5-9
Gill, Andrew (2004). Convict assignment in Western Australia: The Parkhurst 'Apprentices' 1842–1851. Blatellae Books, Maylands, Western Australia. ISBN0-9593472-6-7.
Gill, A. W. (Andrew W.) (2016), Convict assignment in Western Australia the Parkhurst 'apprentices' 1842-1851, Carlisle, Western Australia Hesperian Press, ISBN978-0-85905-619-9(revised edition)
Statham, Pamela (1981). Why Convicts I: An economic analysis of colonial attitudes to the introduction of convicts in Stannage, C. T. (ed) (1981), Studies in Western Australian History IV: Convictism in Western Australia, University of Western Australia.
"Parkhurst Boys 1842–1862". Convicts to Australia. Perth Dead Persons' Society. 2003. Retrieved 18 December 2006.
