4. Hard times: hangings and forced extradition to Australia
An 1865 map of Australia. Image Source: Wikipedia
Many types of punishment had been outlawed by the time Queen Victoria was crowned, but hanging, corporal discipline such as whipping, hard labor, and forced military service were all still common punishments for less than heinous crimes — as was forced extradition to Australian prisons. Death sentences were doled out for an array of crimes, which spanned from serious offenses such as murder to minor illegal acts like stealing food or picking pockets.
Given what awaited the convicted in prison, though, death might have been the better option. In prison, inmates were assigned tortuous, meaningless tasks, one example being the crank, a mechanism with a handle that inmates had to turn non-stop, even though the cranking didn’t actually do anything. Whereas some inmates were at least building roads or working on the docks, prisoners punished with operating the crank had to turn the handle thousands of times a day as determined by their guards. The goal was clear: Mental domination and destruction.
