London and Australia

[Anonymous], Panoramic view of the City of London and the City of Westminster, seen from the south side of the River Thames with Southwark in the foreground (1824). Collage, record number 27748. © London Metropolitan Archives.

The pages below provide basic background information on essential context for understanding developments in London and Australia, relating to crime, justice and punishment documented in the Digital Panopticon.

Between the introduction of penal transportation to Australia in the 1780s and the end of the nineteenth century, London's cultural, social and economic makeup was radically transformed as the city assumed the role of metropolis at the heart of the British Empire. The Empire's three colonies of New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land and Western Australia likewise experienced great change both during and after their position as receivers of transported convicts, eventually coming together to form the new nation of Australia.

London, 1780-1900

Introduction, Population, The Built Environment, Governance and Politics

Convicts and the Colonisation of Australia, 1788-1868

Australian Colonies, Convict Workers, Being Coerced, Becoming Free, Being Rich, Blokes & Shealaghs, Empire & Sexual Opportunity, Bigge Changes, Black & White, Convict Colonisers, Frontier Violence, The Colonial State and Genocide, Protection, Conclusion

The Australian Colonies, 1787-1901

New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), Western Australia, The 1901 Federation and the "Birth of Australia", From the "Convict Stain" to Sydney 2000, Sources for Australian History