Thomas Berwick

Thomas Berwick (1825–1891) was a convict transported to Western Australia. He was one of only 37 such convicts from the 9721 convicts transported to the colony to overcome the social stigma of convictism to become schoolteachers.

Born in 1825, Thomas Berwick worked as a master mariner until he was found guilty of scuttling his ship and sentenced to twenty years transportation. At the time of his sentence he was married with seven children. He arrived in Western Australia on board the Hougoumont in January 1868. After receiving his ticket of leave, by 1878 he was working as an unofficial school teacher at Jarrahdale, with his salary being paid by the local road board. The following year he was officially appointed government schoolmaster. He shares with William Chopin the distinction of being the last ex-convicts to be appointed school teachers.

In 1882 Berwick bought a block of land, upon which he built a large house in the hope that his family would join him in the colony. When this did not eventuate, he rented the property to an innkeeper. He continued to teach until his death in 1891.

Berwick was one of a very small number of convicts in Western Australia to overcome the social stigma of his conviction and obtain a respectable position in society. Although most respectable occupations were closed to ex-convicts, the colony was desperately short of teachers, yet unable to pay a sufficient wage to attract them. Whereas educated people of the "free" class were not attracted to teaching positions, the positions were attractive to educated ex-convicts, for whom the salary was no lower than other vocations open to them, and the job offered a degree of respectability. In total, 39 ex-convicts became school teachers in Western Australia. Erickson (1983) has suggested that the use of ex-convict school teachers played an important role in the gradual breaking down of the social stigma of convictism.

References

• Erickson, Rica (1983). "Schoolmasters". In Erickson, Rica (ed). The Brand on His Coat. Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 0-85564-223-8.