Parkhurst apprentices


The Parkhurst apprentices, juveniles from a reformatory attached to Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, were sentenced to "transportation beyond the seas" and transported to Australia and New Zealand between 1842 and 1852. Either before leaving England or on arrival at their destination,
they were pardoned on the conditions that they be "apprenticed" to local employers, and that they not return to England during the term of their sentence. In the ten years between 1842 and 1852 nearly 1500 boys aged from twelve to eighteen were transported to Australia and New Zealand from Parkhurst Prison.

Parkhurst apprentices in Western Australia

Early in 1839, Governor of Western Australia John Hutt received from the Colonial Office a circular asking if the colony would be prepared to accept juvenile prisoners who had first been reformed in "penitentiaries especially adapted for the purpose of their education and reformation". After seeking comment from the Western Australian Agricultural Society, Hutt responded that "The Majority of the Community would not object to boys not above 15 years of age...." but that the labour market could not support more than 30 boys per year.
Between 1842 and 1849, Western Australia accepted 234 Parkhurst apprentices, all males aged between 10 and 21 years. As Western Australia was not then a penal colony, contemporary documents scrupulously avoided referring to the youths as "convicts", and most historians have maintained the distinction. An opposing view, held for example by Gill, is that the Parkhurst apprentices were convicts, and that their apprenticeship constituted convict assignment.
John Schoales jun., son of John Schoales QC of Dublin. was appointed Guardian of the apprentices. He determined the allowance they were paid, holding it in trust until their 5-year indenture period was over. The Parkhurst Visitors insisted that names of the boys not be published in the Government Gazette, in order that they were not discriminated against. Schoales was succeeded as Guardian by Frederick Dirck Wittenoom.
Parkhurst apprentices were employed by a broad cross-section of Western Australia's businessmen and officials, including many of the colony's ruling class. Among the long list of Parkhurst apprentice employers were Governor Andrew Clarke, Frederick Irwin, George Fletcher Moore, Anthony O'Grady Lefroy, William Locke Brockman, Thomas Brown, George Walpole Leake, Walter Padbury, Stephen Stanley Parker, Rosendo Salvado Thomas Peel JR and George Shenton Sr.
The assimilation of Parkhurst apprentices played an important role in the later acceptance of convicts in Western Australia.

New Zealand

One hundred and twenty three Parkhurst apprentices were sent to the Colony of New Zealand in 1842 and 1843. These had not been invited to the convict-free colony, and were a great surprise when the first ship arrived. After the second ship, the colony successfully petitioned that no more would be sent.

South Australia

The Colony of South Australia was also asked to accept Parkhurst Boys, but resisted and none was sent there.

List of ships

List of ships that brought Parkhurst apprentices to Australia and New Zealand
ShipArrivalParkhurst
apprentices		Colony
Simon TaylorAugust 184218Western Australia
St GeorgeNovember 184292New Zealand
ShepherdOctober 184328Western Australia
MandarinOctober 184351Tasmania
MandarinNovember 184331New Zealand
HalifaxDecember 184418Western Australia
StrathedinDecember 184574Tasmania
January 184616Western Australia
MaitlandOctober 184670Victoria
Thomas ArbuthnotMay 184789Victoria
Joseph SomesSeptember 184784Victoria
MarionJanuary 1848125Victoria
OrientMarch 184851Western Australia
EdenFebruary 184962Victoria
AmeerFebruary 184950Western Australia
abt July 184929Tasmania
RandolphAugust 184985Victoria
MaryOctober 184953Western Australia
AdelaideNovember 184930Tasmania
BlenheimJuly 185085Tasmania
Maria SomesAugust 185030Tasmania
NileOctober 185030Tasmania
RodneyNovember 185040Tasmania
MermaidMay 185143Western Australia
Lady KennawayMay 1851Tasmania and Norfolk Island
PyreneesJune 185129Western Australia
MindenOctober 185130Western Australia
AboukirDecember 1851Tasmania
FairlieMarch 185230Tasmania
EquestrianAugust 1852Tasmania
Oriental QueenOctober 1852Tasmania
DudbrookFebruary 18531Western Australia
LincellesJanuary 18621Western Australia