Convict Guide - published 2006 - Manual / Resource - Page 44
Guide to New South Wales State archives relating to convicts and convict administration
Chapter 3: A Measure of Freedom
(Tickets of leave)
3.1
Background to the records
Incentive for good
behaviour
Convict discipline depended not only on punishment but also on
incentives and rewards. The best inducement to 'good behaviour was
the prospect of a shortening of the convict's period of servitude'. (Hirst,
Convict Society, p.33). There were a number of incentives and rewards
for good behaviour including tickets of leave, ticket of leave passports,
tickets of exemptions from government labor and pardons.
Introduction of the
ticket of leave
system
Governor King introduced the ticket of leave system in 1801. It helped
reduce costs by allowing those who could support themselves honestly
to do so. But it was also a reward for good behaviour and in time would
become 'the most common form of remission of sentence'. (Hirst,
Convict Society, p.53).
Conditions for
eligibility
Governor Macquarie specified that at least three years be served before
a convict became eligible for any concession, though he was known to
break this rule. (Hirst, Convict Society, p.53). Bigge criticised him for
behaving too generously and following the appearance of the
Commissioner’s reports, the minimum requirements for time served
were extended and additional checks were introduced to ensure that
only the well behaved received tickets.
Changes to
eligibility for a ticket
of leave
By a Government Order, dated 1 January 1827, convicts were eligible to
be considered for a ticket of leave under the following criteria:
Convicts for 7 years having served 4 years with 1, or 5 years with 2
masters.
Convicts for 14 years having served 6 years with 1, and 8 years
with 2, or 10 years with 3 masters.
Convicts for life having served 8 years with 1, 10 years with 2, or
12 years with 3 masters.
'A convict could still be considered eligible, even though the number of
masters whom they had served exceeded the number specified above,
provided it could clearly be shown that their removal from their place of
residence was not occasioned by misconduct'. (Plunkett, Australian
Magistrate, pp.404-6).
Benefits to convicts
Ticket of leave men, were seen as the elite of the workforce, and before
1821 were often employed as constables and overseers and on
becoming free were frequently 'preferred to the man who had served his
full term as a convict'. (Hirst, Convict Society, p.102).
Cancellation of
tickets of leave
A ticket of leave could be cancelled at any time for a misdemeanour and
those who held them did not become free until pardoned or the
sentence had expired. A ticket of leave was issued for a specific district
in which the holder was to remain. In order to travel outside the district
a ticket of leave passport was required.
Restrictions to
ticket of leave
holders
The British government in 1832 tightened the conditions for tickets of
leave still further. It removed early grants for special cases such as for
capturing runaways and took away the right of ticket holders to sue or
be sued, thus removing 'all legal protection for their property', this
State Records Authority of New South Wales
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