Convict Profile

The qualified statistics above are based on a one in eight analysis of an alphabetical listing of convicts from the WA Biographical Index (percentages taken to nearest whole number). From Tom Stannage, "Interpreting convicts in Western Australia", unpublished lecture, 1979.

Sandra Taylor has compared statistics of Western Australian convicts with convicts transported to the eastern states and discovered a number of interesting findings. Contrary to popular belief and the rhetoric of the day, it appears that the men sent to Western Australia were more often convicted of more violent crimes. The percentage committing these more violent crimes also increased over time. The men in the eastern states more frequently came from rural areas, they were older and a larger proportion were agricultural workers.

Within the Western Australian system, as well as being convicted of more violent crimes, the men arriving in the later years were more likely than earlier transportees to have come from an urban background. Correspondingly they were more likely to be artisans rather than agricultural workers and were more likely to be literate and married.

Other interesting finds when comparing convicts transported to the eastern states and Western Australia indicate that those sent to Western Australia :

• were more Scottish, less Irish, and perhaps more urban in origin.
• were convicted on proportionately more crimes against the person and more serious crimes against property.
• approximately the same proportion were single,
• were proportionately more likely to be Protestants.
• their age at conviction was roughly the same, but probably slightly fewer had previous convictions.
• were less likely to be seven year men
• had far fewer serving life sentences.