End of Convict Assignment in Sydney, 1840

The End of the Assignment of Convicts, 1840 (Oct.9) Ship letter from Sydney to London with Feb.1841 arrival backstamps. In part, the letter reads 'Money and labour is much wanted & the Government, as if purposely to retard the advancement of the Colony has stopped the assignment of convicts & withdrawn their specie from the public at the very time it was most wanted., After arrival in the penal Colony, the convicts were assessed as to their various abilities and put to work on necessary Government projects such as road building and the construction of buildings. However, with the expansion of the free settler population and their need for labourers, convicts could be assigned to work for settlers, Government officials and army officers who held land grants. The cessesation of Assignment was a severe blow to the development of the Colony.