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From our October 2009 Newsletter -
TRANSPORTED TO SUCCESS?
“Parkhurst Boys” who sailed aboard the “Hashemy” and the “Randolph”
by Tony Cocks.
A few years ago I read that Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, Hampshire in the UK, which had been established as the first “reformatory” for juvenile offenders in 1838, was deemed, according to popular opinion, a failure and in 1864 reverted to a normal adult prison. However, at about the same time, I read about William Henry GROOM who, in 1849 aged 13, had been transported from Parkhurst Prison as one of the 1,500 or so juvenile transportees who became affectionately known as the “Parkhurst Boys”. He was sent to Port Phillip aboard the “Hashemy” but, because of the actions of anti-transportation protestors, the ship was forced to sail on to Sydney with its convict cargo. From there he migrated to Moreton Bay, and despite initially spending a short period in prison for re-offending, eventually in 1900 he became “Father of the House” in Australia’s inaugural Federal Parliament in Melbourne. His son, Littleton Groom, was later knighted. This story did not somehow exemplify failure and spurred me onto further investigation by researching for a PhD to refute that original conclusion.
And now, some way down the line, the failure is looking very much more like a success. More information is needed though, particularly about those “Parkhurst Boys”, 109 of them, who sailed aboard, first, the “Hashemy” mentioned above and, second , the “Randolph”, which was also denied disembarkation rights and forced on to Sydney. Full details of these boys can be found at the Convicts to Australia website:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/park14.html for the “Hashemy”
http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/park15.html for the “Randolph”
I have fairly reasonable Biographies for each of these 109 boys up until they reach Australia, before migrating mostly to northern NSW and Moreton Bay. Among that 109, I am sure there are many success stories, with or without such public acclaim, and if anyone has any knowledge, or would like further details, I would be delighted to exchange information with full acknowledgement:
Email: tonycocks1@yahoo.com