Captain Richard Turton was an officer of the 40th Regiment stationed at Sydney. He was selected to lead the first party of

convicts 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 convict ...

in the re-establishment of the second

convict settlement A penal colony or exile colony is a Human settlement, settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colony, colonial territory. Although the ter ...

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...

. The island had been abandoned since the first convict settlement was finally removed in 1814. The new settlement was intended to be the most severe settlement, where the worst convicts would be sent, without hope of escape and offering, in Governor

Darling Darling is a term of endearment of Old English origin. Darling or Darlin' or Darlings may also refer to: People * Darling (surname) * Darling Jimenez (born 1980), American boxer * Darling Légitimus (1907–1999), French actress Places Austral ...

's view, "the extremest punishment short of death". With 34 soldiers, 57 convicts, and 12 soldiers' wives and children, he landed on 6 June 1825. Most of the convicts were tradesmen to clear the regrowth and prepare buildings. A

treadmill A treadmill is a device generally used for walking, running, or climbing while staying in the same place. Treadmills were introduced before the development of powered machines to harness the power of animals or humans to do work, often a type of ...

was planned, but never sent. The convicts worked twelve-hour days, and the rations of salt meat and maize-meal sound unappetising, but there are no reports of harsh treatment of this working party. Thirty-one more convicts arrived in December, along with more wives. In March 1826, Turton was promoted to major, replaced by Captain Vance Young Donaldson of the 57th Regiment, and returned to Sydney.

References

* Hazzard, Margaret, ''Punishment Short of Death: a history of the penal settlement at Norfolk Island'', Melbourne, Hyland, 1984. () Norfolk Island penal colony administrators {{NorfolkIsland-stub