Lynton Convict Depot

Lynton Convict Depot (1853 - 1856), Western Australia, was established in 1853 to supply labour to the Geraldine Lead Mine, 40 miles north of the site in the Murchison River bed. The depot was barely finished when it was closed in December 1856 due the harsh living conditions and transport problems of the time.

Convicts were held until local businessmen came to hire them for labouring tasks on the nearby farms. There are stories where the local farmers treated the convicts like slaves frequently flogging them for the slightest misdemeanours and summarily executing them for minor offenses. It is difficult to substantiate these claims and they may well be little more than local folklore.

By 1856 a store, bakery, depot, lockup, hospital, lime kiln and administration block had all been built but a lack of fresh vegetables had seen the convict population ravaged by scurvy. It was decided to close the settlement and by January 1857 (less than 4 years after they had arrived) the convicts were either being shipped back to Fremantle or settled in nearby Greenough.

Five women from the "Bride Ships" were known to have arrived in Lynton.

Lynton remains the most intact example of a regional convict depot in Western Australia. Entered on the Register of the national estate and vested in the Northampton Shire Council, conservation works are in progress via the Northampton Historical Society.

References

* Gibbs M. & I. Lilley 1993 Management Plan for the Lynton Convict Hiring Depot. National Trust of Australia (W.A.) for the Australian Heritage Commission.
* [http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/PDF_Files/K-L%20Reg/Lynton%20Convict%20Depot%20(I).PDF Interim database entry at Heritage Council of Western Australia]