Convict assignment was the practice used in manypenal colonies of assigningconvicts to work for private individuals. Contemporary abolitionists characterised the practice as virtualslavery, and some, but by no means all, latter-dayhistorians have agreed with this assessment.

InAustralia, every penal colony exceptWestern Australia had a system of convict assignment.Convicts in Western Australia were never assigned,^[1] with the debatable exception of theParkhurst apprentices.

The system was abolished inNew South Wales andVan Diemen's Land on 1 July 1841 and replaced with the probation gang system. After working for two years in a labour gang, if they were well-behaved, convicts received 'probation passages' which meant they could work for wages.

• Convict lease
• Ticket of leave § Australia

• Angela Woollacott (2015).Settler Society in the Australian Colonies: Self-government and Imperial Culture. Oxford University Press. pp. 69–.ISBN 978-0-19-964180-2.

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