*insert something witty about Australia being formed by convicts here...*

I did nothing except study today, and that is how it will be until I am done with exams most likely. I also skyped with my parents about what we are going to do when they come to visit. They will be here in less than two weeks!!! I'm really excited to see them, but I'm sure not as excited as they are to come to Australia. (My mum has been to Cairns, Queensland, Australia, but I don't think my dad has been to the southern hemisphere before)

Another blog idea came from my dad and he suggested that I talk about the penal colony origins of Australia. As most people probably know, the English settled Australia and used it to take the convicts away from England. The first fleet of convicts arrived at Botany Bay in New South Wales (the state where Sydney is located) in January of 1788. They moved to Port Jackson, which is now Sydney, about a week later, 26 January. That date is now celebrated annually and known as Australia Day. Somewhere I had heard, although it isn't on the wikipedia page, that Western Australia was meant to be established as a state that didn't have convicts. They then were building things like the Fremantle Prison and wanted cheap labour, so the convicts were sent over. Western Australia was the last state to have convicts arrive, and they first came in 1850. Over the course of the next 18 years, 9668 convicts were transported to WA. There was a policy change in England regarding sending the convicts to Australia. The last trip of convicts sent from England was in 1867, landing in WA in 1868. I also learned somewhere that most of the convicts sent to Australia were imprisoned for small things, such as theft, rather than really serious things. I also found some examples on this site. I read in a guidebook that most Australians are proud of their convict heritage, but it never came up in a conversation where I would ask someone that so I don't know for sure.