From Whips to Wages

One might perhaps not expect to find many similarities between labor in Virginia 1660-1750 and in New South Wales 1800-1840. However, there was a crucial unfree white labor stream that fed both British colonies in these two periods: convicts. At first glance, the convicts’ working lives look similar—Virginian convicts were held by a master, often on a plantation, and were working for the master’s profit, while New South Wales convicts were assigned to a master, often on a farm, and worked for the master’s profit. However, this is where the similarities end. The control over the convicts by the New South Wales government meant that there were greater rules and regulations over convict living standards, work hours, usage, and punishment. None of these controls existed for Virginian convicts, who were wholly controlled by their masters. As a result of this difference in control, we see a dynamic change in the method used to motivate effective labor from the convict population. While masters of Virginian convicts relied on coercion and punishment to force work patterns, employers in New South Wales instead relied on incentives and rewards. This chapter explores the impacts on method of control, and how it influenced the shift from coercive-driven labor to incentive-driven labor.