2018 $1 Convict Past PNC

On 9 January 1868, the arrival of the convict ship Hougoumont in Fremantle marked the end of penal transportation to Australia, which had begun with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. Over eight decades, some 806 ships had transported around 165,000 convicts to their fate in the Australian colonies. This stamp issue commemorates the 150th anniversary of the end of convict transportation. Convict labour became not only a tool for discipline and reform but also for colonial advancement; where convicts had specialist skills, these were exploited.