Convicts in Australia
The British Government began transporting convicts overseas to American colonies in the early 17th century. When transportation ended with the start of the American Revolution, an alternative site was needed to relieve further overcrowding of British prisons and hulks. Earlier in 1770, James Cook charted and claimed possession of the east coast of Australia for Britain. Seeking to pre-empt the French colonial empire from expanding into the region, Britain chose Australia as the site of a penal colony, and in 1787, the First Fleet of eleven convict ships set sail for Botany Bay, arriving on 20 January 1788 to found Sydney, New South Wales, the first European settlement on the continent. Other penal colonies were later established in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1803 and Queensland in 1824, while Western Australia, founded in 1829 as a free colony, received convicts from 1850. South Australia and Victoria, established in 1836 and 1850 respectively, remained free colonies. Penal transportation to Australia peaked in the 1830s and dropped off significantly the following decade as protests against the convict system intensified throughout the colonies. In 1868, almost two decades after transportation to the eastern colonies had ceased, the last convict ship arrived in Western Australia.
Colonial forces of Australia
South Australia was the only British colony in Australia which was not a convict colony. It was established as a planned free colony, and began on 28 December 1836. As such, garrisons were not required as prison guards, unlike the other colonies. However, Governor John Hindmarsh was escorted on the HMS "Buffalo" by a contingent of nineteen Royal Marines. They were assigned to protect him and left South Australia when he departed the colony on the HMS "Alligator" on 14 July 1838. A lack of any form of defence however, led to the creation of the Royal South Australian Volunteer Militia, consisting of an infantry company and two cavalry troops, in 1840, although it was disbanded in 1851; for the final six years of its existence it had been a force that had existed on paper only. The first artillery pieces arrived in South Australia aboard "Buffalo", which landed two 18-pound cannons, but initially there were no moves to form an artillery unit, so the guns were operated by Royal Engineers. In 1844 a request for further pieces was sent to the British government and two years later two light 6-pounders, two 12-pounder howitzers and two Cohorn mortars arrived with an ammunition store of about 500 rounds for each weapon type.