It has long been assumed that Australia’s First Fleet was managed by government, with the contractor, a London shipbroker named William Richards, confined to hiring the ships and/or procuring the provisions. As a result of the charter party signed with the Navy Board and the contracts of effectual transportation signed with local justice officials, Richards was legally responsible for the transportation of the convicts. But was he also managerially responsible?
Contemporaries certainly thought so. In a letter written to Richards in July 1791, Sir Joseph Banks wrote: ‘I have always spoken well of you and your mode of managing convicts’. It is evident that Banks believed Richards had had a significant impact on the conditions on board the convict transports.
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