The Comptroller General of Convicts was the head of the
convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as " prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former conv ...
establishment in
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
.
The office existed from 1850, when Western Australia first became a
penal colony
A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...
, until 1872, four years after
penal transportation to Western Australia had ceased.
History
Western Australia's first Comptroller General of Convicts,
Edmund Henderson
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edmund Yeamans Walcott Henderson KCB (19 April 1821 – 8 December 1896) was an officer in the British Army who was Comptroller-General of Convicts in Western Australia from 1850 to 1863, Home Office Surveyor-General o ...
, arrived in the colony with the first convicts on board the ''
Scindian'' in June 1850. He was described as "a kindly and just man, moderate and understanding, opposed to the harsher forms of discipline." Respected by both colonists and convicts, Henderson administered Western Australia's convict establishment for thirteen years;
Battye writes that "its success was no doubt due to his wisdom and tact."
After Henderson's resignation in 1863,
William Newland was appointed his successor. Newland's arrival closely followed the arrival of
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
John Hampton
John Stephen Hampton (c. 1806 – 1 December 1869) was Governor of Western Australia from 1862 to 1868.
Early life
Little is known of John Hampton's early life. His death certificate states that he was born in 1810, but other evidence suggest ...
. Hampton had previously been Comptroller General of Convicts in
Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sep ...
, and assumed far more direct control of Western Australia's convict establishment than had his predecessors. Newland and Hampton constantly disagreed with each other, and Hampton complained to the
Secretary of State for the Colonies that Newland was incompetent. Newland was eventually removed in 1866.
While awaiting a successor to the position, Governor Hampton appointed his son,
George Hampton, to act in the position. George Hampton had no particular qualifications for the position, and already held a number of salaried posts. This "unusually blatant act of nepotism" was extremely unpopular within the colony, both Hamptons thereafter being figures of public hostility and ridicule. Governor Hampton lobbied for his son to be confirmed in the position, but was unsuccessful.
Under George Hampton, convict discipline became extremely strict.
Solitary confinement was re-introduced, and convicts were
flogged
Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, Birching, rods, Switch (rod), switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging ...
for serious offences. Escape attempts increased markedly, and there were even attempts by convicts to kill George Hampton.
Henry Wakeford was appointed Comptroller General of Convicts in 1867, and the following year Governor Hampton's term ended. Wakeford reduced the size of the
chain gangs and the number of floggings, and the system returned to what it had been under Henderson.
Transportation to Western Australia ceased in 1868. In the following years, the number of convicts slowly diminished, and the convict establishment was gradually wound up. In 1872 the office of Comptroller General of Convicts was abolished, and Wakeford was transferred to the
Colonial Office
The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...
. A temporary position of Acting Comptroller General was then created.
List of Comptrollers General of Convicts in WA
See also
*
Convict era of Western Australia
The convict era of Western Australia was the period during which Western Australia was a penal colony of the British Empire. Although it received small numbers of juvenile offenders from 1842, it was not formally constituted as a penal colony u ...
*
Fremantle Prison
Fremantle Prison, sometimes referred to as Fremantle Gaol or Fremantle Jail, is a former Australian prison and World Heritage Site in Fremantle, Western Australia. The site includes the prison cellblocks, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages ...
*
History of Western Australia
The human history of Western Australia commenced between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago with the arrival of Aboriginal Australians on the northwest coast. The first inhabitants expanded across the east and south of the continent.
The first record ...
*
Swan River Colony
Footnotes
References
*
Battye, J. S. (1924), ''Western Australia: A History from its Discovery to the inauguration of the Commonwealth'',
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, London.
* Boyce, P. J. (1979), ''J. S. Hampton, the governor'', in Hunt, Lyall (ed), ''Westralian Portraits'',
University of Western Australia Press
UWA Publishing, formerly known as the Text Books Board and then University of Western Australia Press, is a Western Australian publisher established in 1935 by the University of Western Australia. It produces a range of non-fiction and fiction t ...
, Nedlands, Western Australia. .
* de Garis, B. K. (1981), ''Political tutelage 1829–1890'', in Stannage, C. T. (ed) ''A New History of Western Australia'', University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia. .
*
Hasluck, Alexandra (1959), ''
Unwilling Emigrants''. Oxford University Press,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. Republished in 1991 by
Fremantle Arts Centre Press
Fremantle Press (formerly known as Fremantle Arts Centre Press) is an independent publisher in Western Australia. Fremantle Press was established by the Fremantle Arts Centre in 1976. It focuses on publishing Western Australian writers and writin ...
. {{ISBN, 0-949206-94-6.
Government accounting officials
Convictism in Western Australia
Fremantle Prison