Item #CL174-17 Old Convict Hulk “Success”
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Old Convict Hulk “Success”

c1857. Albumen paper photograph, stereo card format, titled in negative lower right, 7.9 x 15cm. Foxing and discolouration overall, laid down on original backing.

Success was an Australian prison ship and convict hulk, built in 1840. Formerly a merchant ship which traded around the Indian subcontinent, Success was sold to London owners and made three voyages with emigrants to Australia during the 1840s. On 31 May 1852, during the height of the Victorian gold rush, Success arrived at Melbourne and the crew deserted to the gold-fields. Due to an increase in crime, the government of Victoria purchased large sailing ships, including the Success, to be used as prison hulks. In 1857 prisoners from Success murdered the Superintendent of Prisons John Price, the inspiration for the character Maurice Frere in Marcus Clarke’s novel For the Term of His Natural Life.

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Item #CL174-17

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