Convict labour at Brickendon : the diary of William Archer Senior

The Archer family, of Longford Tasmania, hold a privileged position in the story of colonial Van Diemen's Land. Not only were they one of the largest landholders but, between the various strains of the family, they controlled an enviable amount of land and capital - both human and fiscal. William Archer Senior was born in 1754, and is described as a 'pious man, level headed, demanding the best from himself, and expecting that others would act in the same manner as himself, with integrity and consideration' .2 In a social sense, William Snr' s position as mill owner and miller placed him squarely amongst the newly ascendant middling sort. At the age of seventy-three, William Snr emigrated to Van Diemen's Land. He arrived fifteen years after his son Thomas had disembarked in Sydney. He was also following in the footsteps of two other sons, Joseph who had arrived in 1821 and William Jnr who had arrived in 1824.3 Given the length of the passage to Van Diemen's Land and the many discomforts and dangers this entailed one is entitled to inquire into the factors that might entice or compel a septuagenarian member of the English middle-class to emigrate.