Yes, convicts in Van Diemen’s land could be appointed as floggers and surprisingly, constables in the police force. LL Robson, in The Convict Settlers of Australia discusses the types of official positions that convicts could hold in Van Diemen’s Land, mainly while listing those fired from positions of trust and the misdemeanours they were fired for.

Yet convict life had another side to it: encouragement was given to the convicts to make a good name for themselves in the eyes of the government by appointment to the police force as constables, but usually they were dismissed for misdemeanours. Thomas Chalkley was only a month in the police before being dismissed because of his suspicious conduct when he was disarmed by bushrangers. It was considered that he knew these men, and co-operated with them. John Attiwell was gaoled for obtaining the reward twice for apprehending a runaway, and later for suspected sheep stealing; Thomas Cass, for lying down drunk on the road with his musket alongside him was sentenced to hard labour; and a third man was dismissed for taking a female prisoner to the penitentiary in a state of intoxication and being intoxicated himself. This same individual had formerly been sent to Port Arthur for having in his possession three “flash” bills of 500 pounds and a knife with a saw in it……..One prisoner was made government flogger, but forfeited his salary because of drunkenness.

Although Van Diemen’s land tended to be where the more troublesome convicts were sent, a large number of convicts at any time were allocated to jobs either working for landowners, or working for the government. A major purpose of Transportation was to provide the colonies with workers and settlers