One of the items in Today in History is about the transportation of convicts to Straya. This is how the article begins, and if we change the word Industrial to Technological it could relate to the 21st century....................
Conditions in England in the 18th century were tough: the industrial revolution had removed many people's opportunities to earn an honest wage as simpler tasks were replaced by machine labour. As unemployment rose, so did crime, especially the theft of basic necessities such as food and clothing.
Cheers - John
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2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Auto - 2008 23ft Golden Eagle Hunter Some people feel the rain - the others just get wet - Bob Dylan
You're right John in terms of the parallels between people losing their opportunities to make a living as a result of both the industrial and technical revolutions. There is a huge difference today especially in countries like ours where there is a welfare system that provides some sort of safety net so that you shouldn't have to steal food or clothing in order to survive. People can argue that it's not enough but it's a whole lot better than what the poor people of that era had available to them.
-- Edited by The Belmont Bear on Tuesday 6th of December 2016 01:44:28 PM
I would have thought a lot to do with our convict history was related to the start of fall of the British Empire, the loss of the Americas and the fact that England had paid a lot of money for paid soldiers, such as Hessians, the lack of agriculture and the socio economic decline of people moving to the major cities at the time. The only thing the British Government could do, after wasting the resources of Scotland, Wales and Ireland by what could be considered today as a form of genocide, was to find a new country to use for trying to find new resources. The British Government had lost so much by the time the first convicts arrived in Australia that they had to de-populate. Australia was the British Empires answer to boom or bust. This is my opinion, am of British extraction and appalled at the British attitude towards convict resettlement slave trade and expansionism. After all, the same convicts sent to America were the ones who rebelled and won out!
I dread thirty years from now in Australia! That puts me at 88, why should I bother!
