Scindian

Scindian is widely considered the first convict ship to transport convicts to Western Australia.

A barque of 650 tons, Scindian was constructed at Sunderland, England in 1844 and named after the Indian Scindia dynasty. She left Portsmouth on 4 March 1850 under the command of Captain James Cammell and surgeon-superintendent John Gibson, and docked at Fremantle on 1 June 1850 after a voyage of 89 days. The vessel carried 275 people to Western Australia including 75 male convicts and 163 pensioner guards. Among the passengers were a number of convict officials including Comptroller General of Convicts Edmund Henderson and Superintendent of Convicts Thomas Hill Dixon. Also on board was 10-year-old George Throssell, a son of a pensioner guard, who later became the second Premier of Western Australia.

The arrival of the convicts was a surprise to many of the Swan River Colony settlers, as Western Australia had petitioned for convicts but had not yet received a reply when Scindian arrived. As no preparations had been made for their arrival, the colony had no jail capable of housing so many convicts. This had been anticipated, and only convicts with a record of good behaviour had been sent. The convicts were initially housed in the warehouse premises of the harbourmaster, which is now the Esplanade Hotel. Shortly after the arrival, work began on the building of a Convict Establishment prison, now Fremantle Prison.

Scindian sank off the cost of Rio Marina, Elba, Italy on 3 November 1880. The captain, Captain Lawrenson, and five other men drowned; eight were rescued.^[1]

Scindian is widely considered the first convict ship to arrive in Western Australia, because she was the first to arrive after Western Australia became a penal colony. A number of ships did bring Parkhurst apprentices to Western Australia between 1842 and 1849, and while these were not considered convict ships by the Western Australian authorities, they were classified as such in English records.

List of Scindian passengers

Passengers on Scindian included Thomas Hill Dixon, Edmund Henderson and George Throssell. A full list is provided below.

Convicts

Pensioner guards

Other passengers

References

• Bateson, Charles (1959). The Convict Ships 1787–1868. Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson. 
• "Scindian - arrived in WA in 1850". Convicts to Australia. Retrieved 18 February 2006.