The Lake Innes Estate

Privilege and servitude in nineteenth-century Australia

Bibliographic Data

ID3919533
AuthorsGraham Connah (corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume33
Issue1
Pages137-154
Publication date2001-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00438240126650
OpenAlexW4256263935
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited12

Transportation of over 160,000 convicts to Australia during the period 1788–1868 provided unfree labour for both government and private projects. Prisoners involved in the latter were known as 'assigned servants' and carried out a variety of work for their 'masters'. In spite of accusations at the time from critics of the system, they were not slaves. Not only did they retain rights under the law but most of them eventually became free members of society. In the process they worked for both 'emancipists' (ex-convicts) and free settlers, contributing in some instances to the attainment of an élite status by the latter. Archibald Clunes Innes was an example of this colonial 'aristocracy', creating at his estate a microcosm of hierarchical British society in which assigned servants played a crucial part. Circumstances ultimately frustrated his ambitions but the archaeological record provides an opportunity to test the extent to which social and economic differences between the Innes family and their servants, and between free and bond individuals among those servants, can be identified in the physical evidence. Keywords: ConvictsAustraliaAssignmentServants Elite

Aristocracy (class · Colonialism · Elite · Estate · Genealogy · Government (linguistics · House of Commons · Political science · Politics · Privilege (computing · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics · Australian History and Society · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Law · Public Administration

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