The revolt by Britain’s American colonies in July 1776 focused public and political interest on the possible use of New South Wales as a penal colony.

As well as proclaiming their right to political representation, the Americans condemned the ‘pollution’ of their soil by British criminals.

From 1717 approximately 30,000 convicts from England and Scotland and 10,000 from Ireland had been transported to America.

On 19 October 1781, in the final battle of the American Revolution, British General Lord Cornwallis was forced to surrender his entire command – the largest British army in America. As a result of the revolution, the British government was forced to look for new places to send their convicts.