Who created the government, UK or Australians? Were they just dumped on the beach, or was there a system for integrating them into Australian life?
There was no Australian Government until 1901, long after convicts had stopped being sent to Australia (that stopped in 1868). Before that, Australia was made up of 6 self governing colonies (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, West Australia and South Australia). South Australia was the only colony that did not receive convicts.
The first lot of European colonists arrived in Australia in 1788 (The Fist Fleet). This was made up of 775 convicts and 645 free settlers, officials, ship crew and marines. The convicts were most definitely not dumped on a beach: they were sentenced to things like 7 years hard labour in Australia and were essential manpower. Notable buildings in Australia such as the Fremantle gaol was built with convict labour.
Source: Convicts and the British colonies in Australia
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