Cessation of Transportation

In 1840, the Molesworth Committee, set up by the British House of Commons, decided to bring an end to transportation to New South Wales. However, following this decision, convicts were sent to Van Diemen’s Land in increasing numbers. To cope with this increase, a ‘probation system’ was established and the assignment of convicts to settlers abolished. Under the new system convicts were placed in government gangs and distributed across the island. Settlers found themselves without the free labour on which they relied.

In 1849 an Anti-Transportation League was established in Van Diemen’s Land. Although there was some support for the continuation of transportation, mainly from large landholders who stood to benefit from cheap labour, the anti-transportation movement was ultimately successful. The last transport of convicts arrived in 1853. Only Western Australia remained a convict colony until 1868.