A Tale of two convicts
PETER HANSLOW and Joseph Wilkes were convicted together at the Warwick Assizes, England, on 2 August 1817 for their part in the theft of a large quantity of wick yarn, and sentenced to seven years’ transportation. After their trial, they were sent to the hulk Laurel, moored at Portsmouth, to await transport to New South Wales. A year later, Hanslow was put aboard Globe, which departed England on 26 August 1818, and reached Port Jackson on 8 January 1819. Wilkes spent two years on Laurel, eventually leaving England on Dromedary bound for Hobart Town in Van Diemen’s Land on 11 September 1819. He was disembarked there in January 1820.
On the surface, the men appear to have had much in common. They were both from Birmingham and of similar age — Hanslow 19, Wilkes about 23. They had good trades — Hanslow a blacksmith and gunsmith, Wilkes a silversmith. However, their lives in the Australian colonies could not provide a starker study in contrasts.
Hanslow was a model prisoner. He served his time without re-offending, married well, established a stable family life, acquired property and died a wealthy and respected citizen of Sydney at the age of nearly 70.
Wilkes, on the other hand, reoffended many times and was banished to the notorious Norfolk Island settlement for a number of years. After his return to Sydney, he continued to re-offend. He was involved in three separate
