"Most criminals sent to Australia were for petty crimes," ..... this was the common method of disposing of the over-population of Britain, and the solution for impoverishment and starvation as the primary driver of "petty" crimes.
today we can see that the true crime was Govt apathy wrt the poor, lack of employment opportunities (in the Great Britain economic powerhouse of capitalism)...... all the same problems we now identify as "third world" problems.
when considered realistically and contrasted with the civilisation of first Australians, the British were far less civilised than Aboriginal people who had compassion and a sense of justice.
