Freedom Earned or Won and Lost

Few former convicts ever returned to Britain, even if most dreamed of it throughout their imprisonment. Not only was it expensive to find the fare home but many had settled into life here after their years as a convict and saw opportunities to better themselves which they would not have at home.

For many the strain of parting from loved ones had eased and new relationships formed. Some had been joined by their wives or husbands from home. And for those who might have considered it, the idea of the long voyage home on a tossing ship was just too much to consider.

There were four ways convicts could become free:

• Earn a Ticket of Leave and be given limited freedom but still a prisoner.
• Gain a Pardon, Conditional or Free.
• Serve out the sentence term, and become an Emancipist.
• Escape from custody or assignment.

Each of these ways is given separate consideration.

Gain a Pardon, Conditional or Absolute

Convicts with pardons were treated more or less as free men or women and could move in society as they pleased. They could buy land or run a business and perhaps become wealthy, as some did, such as Solomon Wiseman on the Hawkesbury River.

A Conditional Pardon restored convicts to citizenship within the colony but they did not have the right to return to England. Provided they stayed within Australia, they were treated as free men or women.

An 'Absolute' Pardon entitled convicts to be fully restored to their rights as though they had never been convicted, including the right to return to England if they wanted. This pardon was very rare and was only given as a reward for major service to the community. The convicts with seven and fourteen years sentences who were rewarded with a Conditional Pardon on the expiration of their original sentence could return to the United Kingdom.