Empire of Hell Religion and the Campaign to End Convict Transportation in the British Empire, 1788–1875
Book contents
- Empire of Hell
- Empire of Hell
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Saints, Whigs and Penal Colonies, 1788–1822
- 3 ‘Hell upon Earth’: Sir George Arthur in Van Diemen’s Land, 1823–1837
- 4 Quakers and Convict Concerns
- 5 Christian Utilitarianism and Archbishop Richard Whately
- 6 Catholics, Protestants and the ‘Horrors of Transportation’
- 7 ‘Ocean Hell’: Captain Maconochie and Norfolk Island, 1837–1855
- 8 Probation in Van Diemen’s Land, 1839–1857
- 9 ‘Political Parsons’ and the Anti-Transportation Movement, 1847–1854
- 10 ‘Floating Hells’: Bermuda, Gibraltar and the Hulks, 1850–1875
- 11 ‘Reformatory Colony’: Western Australia, 1850–1868
- 12 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - ‘Hell upon Earth’: Sir George Arthur in Van Diemen’s Land, 1823–1837
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 March 2019
Book contents
- Empire of Hell
- Empire of Hell
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Saints, Whigs and Penal Colonies, 1788–1822
- 3 ‘Hell upon Earth’: Sir George Arthur in Van Diemen’s Land, 1823–1837
- 4 Quakers and Convict Concerns
- 5 Christian Utilitarianism and Archbishop Richard Whately
- 6 Catholics, Protestants and the ‘Horrors of Transportation’
- 7 ‘Ocean Hell’: Captain Maconochie and Norfolk Island, 1837–1855
- 8 Probation in Van Diemen’s Land, 1839–1857
- 9 ‘Political Parsons’ and the Anti-Transportation Movement, 1847–1854
- 10 ‘Floating Hells’: Bermuda, Gibraltar and the Hulks, 1850–1875
- 11 ‘Reformatory Colony’: Western Australia, 1850–1868
- 12 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In Van Diemen’s Land, George Arthur was responsible for realizing the Evangelical vision of a moral order for the empire's leading penal colony. This chapter examines the religious elements of Arthur’s scheme, including the provision of Methodist catechists for penal establishments at Macquarie Harbour and Port Arthur, and an attempt at an Anglican ecclesiastical establishment for the colonists. It includes a detailed analysis of his plans for reformatory religious and penal establishments in Van Diemen’s Land and his pamphlets on transportation, written in response to Archbishop Whately's attacks on transportation. Arthur’s religious and penal reforms were critical to the changing view of transportation by governing elites. Condemned as ‘hell on earth’, it was nevertheless the penal system most congruent with the Evangelical values of sin, crime, penitence and punishment examined in the previous chapter.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Empire of HellReligion and the Campaign to End Convict Transportation in the British Empire, 1788–1875, pp. 54 - 76Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019