I'm always looking for those elusive Australian leg irons as shown in pic 1 and below.
The larger ones were for punishment. The smaller ones were escaped from by banging them with large rocks making them more oval shaped and allowing the heal to slip out.
These 2 pics show "Top Irons" (pear shaped) and "Bottom Irons". Somehow they were meant to be used together? - maybe. Can anyone tell me how? I've heard that a chain passed through the pair shaped section.
Paul
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Hi Paul:
Australian leg irons are rather interesting, particularly the history behind them. As I recall, the 4th and 5th pictures you posted are from an auction of Australian artifacts a couple of years ago. The shackles were rather pricey, and most of them were purchased by museums.
Their history is rather nifty. They came into use because until the mid-19th century, England didnt have enough prison (gaol) room for all their convicts. Their solution was to transport them; namely, ship them off somewhere else and make them someone elses problem. Originally, they were sent to the American colonies beginning in the 17th century. The references you read in early Americana about indentured servants are usually not about apprentices, but criminals. While some persons agreed to indenture themselves to pay their way to the colonies (plantations as they were then called), the majority were criminals sentenced to 7 years, 14 years or life. The colonists were glad to have them in order to fill the labor shortage. Upon reaching the colonies, the convicts were auctioned off, with the buyers posting a bond to the crown. Thus, in practice, the transported criminal was, in essence, a slave for a term of years. When the sentence was completed, the convict was given clothing, provisions and plot of land as a means to encourage further settlement of the colonial wilderness.
With the American Revolution in 1776, the British lost their dumping ground and had to find another one. While their colonies in the West Indies were available, the climate there was deemed unsuitable for Europeans, so transporting an English convict there was viewed as tantamount to a death sentence. Accordingly, African slaves were used there for labor services.
With limited prison space, they had to come up with a way to house the prisoners until a new transport location could be found. The solution was to use hulks: decommissioned warships and merchant vessels that were anchored in the Thames River. The problem here was that anyone who could swim could easily escape by jumping ship, so the convicts were placed in riveted leg irons as soon as they arrived upon the hulks to weight them down to prevent an aquatic escape.
As part of their prison uniform, they were issued what they called gaiters, which was simply a cord or strap that fastened around the leg above the knee with an attached line that in turn was fastened to the leg shackle to lift it off the ankle to prevent chafing. Additionally, another cord from the prisoners waist was attached to a round ring in the center of the chain to prevent it from dragging the ground, as can be seen in the 2nd picture you posted. One key to identifying a transport shackle is that round central ring.
Eventually, the British settled upon using Australia (New South Wales), New Zealand and Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) as their new location for their criminal element. In 1788, eleven transport ships sailed off with their human cargo in what became known as the First Fleet. You may want to pick of a copy of the book, Fatal Shore, by Robert Hughes, to learn more about the colonial Australian penal system.
Once the transport ship was en route, if the prisoners were well-behaved, the leg irons were removed by the time the ship reached the African coast. After all, while at sea, if you jumped ship youd drown and once you got to Australia, youd starve to death in the wilderness if you escaped, although that later changed as the country became settled. Typically, they were used mainly for disciplinary measures, but discipline was on the harsh side of strict. The leg irons used in the penal colonies came in a variety of weights depending upon the severity of the punishment intended to be inflicted, and unruly convicts were often placed in several sets of shackles. As in the American colonies, if a prisoner minded his manners, he could gain his ticket of leave and be let out to a free colonist, for a price of course.
In some instances, particularly on road gangs, the prisoners were double-ironed with a standard set of round shackles and a second set above the first with the peculiar shape as seen in the picture you posted. The tulip shape served two purposes. First, it made removal of the rivets easier and second, allowed a chain to be passed through to create a chain gang or to secure the prisoners at night when no stockade was available.
Period literary references to leg irons with any details to their construction or use are hard to find. If youre interested, you might want to review The Adventures of Ralph Rashleigh:
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301281.txt
Authentic riveted convict irons dont become available very often. Humane and sanitary concerns eventually caused them to fall into disuse. You cant change your britches when confined in the things, and rather than waste a blacksmiths time to remove the shackles to allow a change of clothing, shackled prisoners were forced to work naked or wearing a makeshift skirt. Because of their unsavory history, most were recycled as scrap metal since refined iron was scarce in those early days.
By very good luck some years ago, I was able to pick up an early set of Australian shackles. In contrast to the later type as seen in your pictures, they could be deemed over-manufactured. Instead of attaching the chain to the shackles via a hole forged through the shackle itself, a clevis was used on each shackle as seen in a typical darby type leg iron or handcuff. Out of curiosity, I briefly tried doing some yard work wearing the things and it was not a pretty thing. Unlike modern leg shackles, those old things were brutal. If you read Mr. Rashleighs account, youll find that while still on board a hulk, he contracted an illness that landed him in sick bay. While there, they removed the shackle from one leg but left them attached to his other leg, presumably to prevent him from swimming, even in his weakened condition. After he began to recuperate, he actually begged to have the shackles fully reattached; having all that weight on one leg with none on the other was unbearable to him.
Franklin
