Dreaming about distant countries is typical for children and adults. But this is perhaps the most amazing country. The country. Isle. Continent. And all this is about Australia! South of Indonesia, between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, this is the smallest continent on the globe. When talking about this wonderful part of our planet, we will often use the superlative and the word "most".
The most flat country in the world. The landforms in this part of the land are quite small. There are no high mountains and very few rivers here. Perhaps the only big river is Murray-Darling. Australia is the driest continent inhabited by humans. Not more than 500mm of precipitation per year falls on its deserts, semi-deserts of the Center and West and jungles of the east and southeast coast. The coast cannot boast of a large number of coves and coves, because the coastline is fairly flat. The largest bays are Carpentaria Bay and the Great Australian Bight.
Another important physical characteristic of the island is the Great Barrier Reef - the longest coral reef in the world. Its length is 2300 km, and it is visible from space.
Beautiful cities are located along the coast of the ocean, there are numerous huge sandy beaches. In winter, there is a huge amount of snow in mountains such as the Snowy Mountains or the Australian Alps. Sometimes - more than in the whole mountainous Switzerland.
The cleanest air in the world is in Australian Tasmania. The whitest sand at Hyams Beach, located on Jersey Bay. He was even listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
Australia is the oldest continent, but the youngest state. And yet ... it has no land borders with any country. Leading in terms of literacy, Australia is one of the ten countries in the world with the highest standard of living. Outstripped such a monster as South America in diamond mining. After opening in 1979. a diamond vein in Western Australia, it now ranks first in the world for the extraction of these gemstones. The country's currency is the Australian dollar, by the way, made of plastic.
The largest city in this country is Sydney (population - 4 million people). The capital Canberra is not so crowded - its population is 300 thousand people. But it is there that the largest building in the southern hemisphere is located. This is a magnificent building of the Australian Parliament.
An architectural wonder built in 1960 is the Sydney Opera House. Just think, it has 1000 halls! Accommodates - 5000 people! And the roof of this grandiose structure weighs 161 tons.
Another monumental structure is the largest arched bridge in Sydney Harbor - the Bridge. And the Sydney TV Tower is the tallest in the southern hemisphere. 
Making up 1% of the world's population, 88% of Australians live in cities. Moreover, literally a quarter of the population of this continent was born outside of it. And 32% of women and 34% of men have never been engaged. 2.5 people for 1 sq. km - such a density of the population of this country, in terms of area comparable to populous Europe.
Once the largest prison, a former British penal colony ... now the mainland with the lowest crime rate on the globe. Although over the past 200 years, a total of 160,000 prisoners have been exiled to this remote continent. The indigenous tribes (aborigines) living in "New South Wales" (as Australia was called at that time) spoke 200 languages \u200b\u200band dialects. Now they make up only 1.5% of the population and drag out a miserable, beggarly existence. But another part of the population is not shy about spending, for example, when playing poker. 20% of the funds all over the world, lost in this insanely gambling game, go to the inhabitants of this country.
The world's largest pasture (in Australia it is called a ranch) is comparable to the territory of such a European country as Belgium. The most popular pets are sheep. And if the number of these animals is 150 million, then, for comparison, the population of the continent is 20 million people. There are 16 times more rabbits than people in this amazing country. There they are classified as pests. There are a lot of kangaroos, which are now even bred on a ranch.
Marsupials living in Australia, like many millions of years ago, are not the only rare species of the animal world. In national parks and reserves of the continent, such as Buffalo, Kostsyushko, South West, etc., the ostrich emu, kangaroo, kookaburra, koala, various parrots, kokadu, wild dog Dingo, platypus and echidna, snakes (among them very many poisonous).
Penguins and seals swim from Antarctica to the southern part of the mainland coast. There are a lot of insect species in this country: 4000 species of ants, 350 - termites, 6000 - flies, 1500 - spiders.
© Inga Korneshova article written specifically for the site Since this mainland is located in the southern hemisphere, when we have winter, there is summer heat and a beach season. And even the disk of the moon on this “island-continent” is turned upside down.
The Soviet Gulag is undoubtedly the largest experiment in the development of territories through forced labor in history. But he had predecessors - not only the American South, but a whole continent-prison. However, already in the middle of the 19th century in England they realized that prison labor slows down the Australian economy, and they stopped sending convicts there.
ELENA CHIRKOVA
The war between the North and South in America ended with the defeat of the Southerners by the Yankee army and the abolition of slavery in the southern states. Slaves are freed, that is, these people are not only freed from slave labor, but also removed from allowance and are now forced to look for work for hire. For money, they are not too needed. Especially when there is an alternative. "I almost decided that I would hire to sawmills convicts. I once talked to Johnny Gallegher ... how hard we work to get these niggers, and he asked why I did not take the convicts. I thought it was a good idea. ..— says Scarlett O "Hara, the main character of Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind." blacks after the abolition of slavery. "Money") will not rush at me like a swarm of wasps for this, and will not poke all sorts of laws under my nose and interfere with what does not concern them. ”When it comes down to it, even Scarlett, who has turned into a tough one during the war and an entrepreneur cannot put up with the bullying that convicts endure from a sawmill manager who wants to squeeze out the maximum income.
To the edge of the world
Scarlett O'Hara was not the first to undertake the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Gulag as an economic organization. Beginning in the 18th century, Great Britain was engaged in this, turning Australia and the surrounding islands into a colony-settlement. The original purpose of colonizing this continent was ship timber and the cultivation of flax in a suitable climate. England imported both from Russia through Riga. ” England and France and the sympathies of the Scandinavian countries.
In 1784, France received permission from Sweden to create an outpost near Gothenburg, at the exit from the Baltic Sea. In this regard, they remembered Norfolk Island, a thousand miles from the eastern shores of Australia. This island was discovered by James Cook in 1774. Cook reported that on Norfolk and the neighboring islands he saw pine trees up to 60 meters high with trunks of almost a meter in diameter and that flax grew there. The linen samples delivered to him have already been tested: the canvas made from it turned out to be very durable. In addition, in 1783, the American War of Independence ended, and England lost its most important colony.
The first proposals for the colonization of Australia and the surrounding islands involved sending the English poor there. There was no shortage of them due to the depression caused by the lost war; they intended to use the Chinese as slaves for the colonists. Slaves were essential. Only free land and free labor could attract immigrants to the distant - at that time nine to ten months' journey - the continent. Another idea won out - to reduce the burden on English prisons and to send thieves and murderers to remote territories. In an economic sense, they were supposed to replace slaves.
It was decided to establish colonies on the shores of Botanical Bay (the modern Australian state of New South Wales with the capital Sydney - the city that grew out of the first settlement) and on Norfolk. The presence of French ships in the region and the information that the navigator Comte de La Pérouse had already landed on Norfolk made them rush to seize the island. However, the local pine for the construction of ships turned out to be unsuitable due to too soft, thin-fiber wood (an excellent ship pine was found in Tasmania, but after several decades). The economy of the "project" turned out not at all as planned, nevertheless, the colony on Norfolk grew, becoming in fact a prison with very harsh conditions of detention.
Developed a business plan: criminals will be sent to the Botanical Bay by ships of 600 people; the organization of the settlement will take about £ 19 thousand (£ 2.6 million in modern money), the cost of it in the first year will be about £ 15 thousand, in the second - about £ 7 thousand, and in the third it should come to self-sufficiency ...
The first shipment took place in 1786, 736 people were loaded on board. There were no political ones among them, who committed grave crimes like rape or murder, too. The picture of the contingent relocated to Australia over the years of this practice was something like this. 80% were convicted of theft, half to two thirds were re-sentenced. The overwhelming majority are urban residents; the villagers, who were most in demand as a labor force, accounted for only one fifth. 75% were single, with one woman for every six men. The average age is 26. Most were illiterate - more than half could not even write their name.
Floating prisons
For transportation in record time, an appropriate fleet was built - ships with a well-insulated room equipped with bunks. A prisoner had about 50 cm of space in width, three or four were assigned to one bunk. In no case two - it was believed that sleeping in three insures against homosexual contacts. Australian writer Marcus Clark (1846-1881) described the insides of a floating prison in his novel Condemned for Life: “There were twenty-eight nar, each with six people. The bunks passed in a double tier on two sides of the prison ... For some bunks there were five square feet and six inches. However, the latter were cut due to lack of space; but even with such crowding, twelve people were still forced to sleep on the floor. "
The height of the hold was about human height. There was no light other than natural - no candles were given to avoid a fire. During a storm, the hatches were battened down, and fresh air did not enter the hold, but walks were allowed in good weather. On the Malabar, on which Rufus Does, the hero of Clark's novel, who has received life imprisonment, is being taken to Australia, the promenade is arranged as follows: “The middle part of the deck looked strange. the masts and on the quarterdeck a dense bulkhead with openings, entrances and exits ran across the deck from one bulwark to another. Outside, this corral was guarded by armed sentries. Inside, sixty men and boys in gray sat, stood, or walked with an indifferent look in front of a row of shiny gun barrels. prison clothes. All of them were prisoners of the English king ... "
And these are also divine conditions. Dose was sent to Australia in the second half of the 1820s, when hygiene standards were somehow respected. The fate of the first parties of prisoners was much more difficult - they had much worse than the slaves brought from Africa to the United States. For example, out of 499 "passengers" of one of the first carrier ships, only 72 made it to the place in relative health, the rest died or became seriously ill. By the way, the high mortality rate was beneficial to private contractors who carried out the delivery of prisoners: food was loaded in England at certain rates, and if the "mouths" naturally decreased along the way, the surplus could be sold in ports in Latin America or in Cape Town. Yes, in those days people went to Australia through Latin America.
To reduce mortality, doctors began to be appointed to the ships, not accountable to private companies that took over the transportation of the contingent, but to the companies themselves paid for its successful delivery. The bonus for each prisoner delivered alive was 20-25% of the base price of transportation - the amount paid regardless of mortality.
Lobster hard labor
The first ships sailing to Australia took on board a supply of everything necessary for life for several years in advance - there were no guarantees that the next ships with provisions would safely reach their destination. It is only in Daniel Defoe's tale "Robinson Crusoe" that an Englishman survives on a desert island, eating pasture. In Australia, convicts who fled into the interior of the mainland died of hunger, or returned and voluntarily surrendered to the authorities. If the next ship was late, the ration often had to be cut to a hungry minimum. In the early years, it came to the point that prisoners and officers were given equal rations. The only significant addition to the imported provisions was lobsters - off the coast of Australia, they lived in abundance, so that a brigade of prisoners could catch about five hundred per evening. Australia became self-sufficient in providing basic needs around 1810 - 23 years after the first settler landing.
Convicts were required to work - the embodiment of the idea that punishment should consist of work, not time spent in prison. In the early years, all those serving time worked for the state, the harvested crop was considered its property. The grain went to state stores, where the colonists purchased at the rates according to the rationing distribution system. However, by the beginning of the 19th century, agricultural production and trade became a private business in Australia, while in general, up to 90% of convicts subsequently worked in the private sector. Those who were engaged in public works could mine coal, equip bays - build breakwaters or lighthouses, as well as build prisons, barracks, roads, build tunnels, build bridges.
Scientific sources consider work in coal mines one of the most inhumane: hard physical labor, lack of daylight, dampness, rock debris, lack of air and professional diseases of miners - asthma and rheumatism. However, it is even more difficult to collect and burn shells for limestone, the industrial deposits of which were not near Sydney. The collector worked barefoot in the water, stepping on sharp shells, dragging heavy baskets, the smoke from the burning shells corroded his eyes.
However, in the novel by Marcus Clark, even worse work is mentioned. The cruel warden, with personal motives to hate Rufus Dose, "gave him ... fifty lashes, and the next day sent him to grind cayenne pepper. This punishment the convicts feared most of all. The corrosive dust got into the eyes and lungs, causing unbearable agony. For a man with a wounded back, this work turned into torture. "
Legislatively, a prisoner's working week was limited to 56 hours, but production quotas were also established, and those who did not fulfill the plan had to work more. In 1800, for example, in a week it was necessary to clear a plot of one acre (about 0.4 hectares) from the forest or thresh 18 bushels (about half a ton) of grain.
It was allowed to have your own vegetable garden, this was especially encouraged in the first hungry years of colonization. Prisoners could even be released early from community work - at three in the afternoon, for example, so that they could work for themselves.
It was not forbidden to cut down the forest in their free time, clear areas and the like, receiving a small payment for this. And skilled artisans - jewelers, tailors, shoemakers could work in their specialty and earn quite a lot, up to £ 4-5 (£ 500-700 in modern prices) per week. After their release, former prisoners had the right to choose their own business to their liking.
Origin of capital
The first free inhabitants of Australia were the military - guards in the places of deployment of prisoners and representatives of the rudimentary government. It was believed that on the mainland-prison there is no trust in other residents. The continent was slowly filling up with free people, even in the 1820s prisoners made up 40% of Australia's population. Free were both former prisoners who rewound the term, and ordinary migrants. Some came due to the fact that they were members of the convict's family, but these were in the minority due to massive refusals of permission for resettlement (it was required to prove that the person who served his sentence could support his family) and because of the price of a ticket to Australia, which was too high for workers.
Others went for the "long pound". To find a new homeland was because of what: as much land as desired - a free resident of the colony, at his request, was provided with 25 acres (10 hectares); land in Australia was almost worthless for about four decades since colonization began. Ten prisoners were attached to the future farm - at first this contingent was the only source of wage labor in Australia. At first, there was no payment for the use of prisoners' labor, and the state took upon itself the responsibility of providing them. So it tried to attract wealthy settlers.
But pretty soon, already in 1800, the costs of keeping prisoners working in the private sector were shifted to the tenants of the labor force. They were supposed to provide the worker with allowance, clothing and housing. It was stated in detail that linen and bedding should be provided, in particular, the prisoner had the right to receive a blanket. Food and clothing could be borrowed from government stores, paying at the end of the year, after harvest. Also, the private employer took on some of the medical expenses.
The minimum contract period was 12 months. If it turned out that the farmer was unable to support the workers, they were taken away and a fine was issued for each day until the end of the contract. The prisoner could be taken away and if he was used unproductively or secretly subleased - this was prohibited. Private persons were not allowed to punish prisoners, it was the prerogative of the state.
A prisoner who served as a servant of a free person could sit with the owners at the same table. Tea, sugar, rum, and soap were considered signs of well-being, and they rewarded workers for hard work. Of course, tobacco was also valued - perhaps the main equivalent in prisons at all times.
It was not forbidden to use prisoners as servants. On the one hand, this contradicted the idea of \u200b\u200bproductive labor for the good of society for the sake of atonement. On the other hand, in class society there was an understanding that a London butler would not go to Australia in search of work, and a rich man was not ready to do without him. Accordingly, there was a demand for educated prisoners. Here, against the background of thieves, usually illiterate, stood out those convicted of fraud, for example, bank clerks who forged bills. Oddly enough, there was also a demand for thieves. Of these, wealthy Australians recruited security - the robber had a good idea of \u200b\u200bhow to protect the house from theft.
According to the law, the rights of those who were originally free and those who had served a sentence were the same. In practice, former prisoners, as well as free people not connected with the military infrastructure of the colony, were discriminated against. The military could choose the best land for themselves, the best prisoners - these were people with experience on the land, paid less for tools and seeds, and in addition, they could take out loans against the security of salaries and use them as investment capital. In particular, they bought land from the released prisoners, who received plots for free - among them, few were agricultural workers and knew how to profitably run a business. The fragmented land was gradually consolidated. Exactly according to Lenin: capitalism grew out of small-scale commodity production.
For three years (from 1792 to 1795), the colony was de facto ruled by the military, who monopolized the purchase of goods delivered from the metropolis and their resale. The main load was rum, which served as a universal equivalent - the colony did not dry out all over the place. This is another source of the first Australian fortunes.
Slavery as a brake
Some large fortunes formed quickly, but Australia developed slowly. She suffered from a lack of capital, isolation, long distances, a small population, a conservative penitentiary system, and most importantly, because of the specifics of the labor force, which had absolutely no incentive to work. It is very similar to the situation in the south of the United States in the first half of the 19th century, where slavery hampered economic development ("Money" wrote about this - see "Uncle Tom's Cost", http: // www ..
There were also differences. In the United States, the slave planter had to buy, and the cost was high, reflecting not only demand but also the purchase and transportation costs. English prisoners were transported by the crown to Australia at its own expense and given to free colonists for free, which significantly reduced the cost of labor. But free labor and free land have their disadvantages - free or subsidized distribution of resources creates distortions in the economy: surplus production is produced, surplus assets grow. In Australia, these were, for example, flocks of sheep. Animal husbandry could provide as much meat as the country could not, in principle, eat.
The reasons for stopping the expulsion of prisoners were the growing dissatisfaction with the implementation of the "project" in the British political environment in the 1830s, as well as the improvement in the state of the penitentiary system and opposition from Australians, who began to consider the continent their homeland.
As for England, the crime rate has not declined there, from which it was concluded that moving to Australia for potential violators of the law is a weak threat. In addition, the economy of the "project" stopped working: local prisons became more efficient and it turned out to be more profitable to keep prisoners in them, at least with short terms. It was also understood that the system was creating distortions in the Australian economy. Since they still wanted to populate the continent, they focused on material incentives for volunteers. For example, in 1837, a healthy immigrant under 30 was given £ 37 (about £ 3,700 in today's money), as well as £ 5 for each of his young children and another £ 15 for each teenager.
No more than 20-25% of criminals convicted under the most severe articles worked in shackles, the rest were in the settlement, or, as they said in the USSR, "in chemistry." They could, to some extent, make decisions regarding their work, master a new profession. They were better prepared for life in society after liberation than prisoners in prisons.
In the 1830s, the salaries of freed convicts in Australia were higher than those of similar professions in the metropolis. British prisoners began to view transportation to a distant country as a chance in life, as an opportunity to get rich. Especially after gold was discovered in Australia in 1851. This is one of the indirect reasons for the final refusal to transfer prisoners there. There was no point in taking the criminals free of charge to where many sought to get on their own, and for a lot of money.
The prevailing opinion in England that Australia is a land of opportunity is reflected in Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations. Its main character, Pip, comes from a simple family, who lost his parents early, and at the age of seven, he showed mercy to the fugitive convict Abel Magwitch. He was again caught and sent to Australia for life. Magwitch kept a fond memory of the orphan and decided incognito to spend what he earned in Australia on turning him into a gentleman. After some time, Abel Magwitch, despite the threat of the death penalty, returns to his homeland to visit Pip, who by that time lives in the "mansions" that "the Lord does not disdain". Abel Magwitch reveals to Pip who was his anonymous benefactor, and in short words tells how he made his fortune: he was in the service of a cattle breeder, worked as a shepherd "in distant pastures," and the owner left him money when he was dying, and then Magwitch ended term, and he "began little by little to do something for himself."
In Australia, the wealthy, including former prisoners, were in favor of further relocation of convicts, they demanded cheap labor. There were free hired workers against them, they were afraid of competition from guest workers and a decrease in their income. Their other argument is that according to statistics, many released from prison became repeat offenders: the proportion of newly convicted already in Australia among the entire population in 1835 was ten times greater than in England. The opinion of the working masses prevailed.
In New South Wales, convicts were no longer delivered back in 1840, to Van Diemen's Land (the original name of Tasmania), which was turned into a maximum security prison - in 1853. The last landing of prisoners in Western Australia took place in 1868. Since 1787, when the first transport with criminals arrived in Australia, 825 "special flights" were sent there - an average of 200 prisoners on each board, that is, about 165 thousand people were forcibly resettled. According to statistics, only 7% of those who lived to see liberation returned home.
Once a huge prison, Australia now ranks first in the global happiness ranking.
The history of modern Australia began in 1606, when the reckless Dutch captain Janszon landed on an unknown land and named it "New Zealand" - after the Dutch province.
Here this name did not take root, but later went to the islands to the east of Australia. The Dutch did not take root either: the local population greeted them with hostility, several sailors died. Having given the order to raise the anchors, the captain wrote in the logbook: "Nothing good can be done there."
This conclusion was also confirmed by his compatriot Captain Karstenz: "These shores are unsuitable for life, they are inhabited by poor and wretched creatures."
The largest prison in the world
Well, the Dutch have always been good sailors, but absolutely no warriors. The British are a different matter. James Cook was sent to extend the power of the crown to unknown lands - he did. With fire and sword, the English colonists reclaimed food and water on the Australian coast. The Dutch probably saw in this only confirmation of the words of Captain Janszon.
In those years it was already clear that Great Britain had bitten off more land for itself than it could really develop. The only use that has been found for Australia is a beautiful prison well isolated from the civilized (thousands of miles of water).
Already 18 years after Cook's first visit, those who would later be delicately called "stowaways on Her Majesty's ships" landed on the shore - convicts. Several tens of thousands of angry people, often seriously ill, who died in hard labor, drove out the aborigines and infected them with diseases unknown in Australia - became the foundation of the future Australian society.
FOR REFERENCE : Now, in the 10s of the XXI century, Australia ranks first in the Better Life Index of happiness from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. GDP per capita goes off scale at $ 45,000 - a place in the top ten in the world, only the United States is ahead of the big countries. Eighty-four percent of Australians report that they are "much more likely" to experience positive emotions than negative ones.
How the hell did they do it?
At one time Australia (like New Zealand) began to climb on gold and wool. Even convicts began to breed sheep, and later it became literally a national occupation ("Australia rides a sheep") and until the end of World War II provided the main flow of funds into the country. Suffice it to say that in the 1880s a unique "dog fence" was built here, more than 5 thousand kilometers long (more than enough to block the European part of Russia from north to south), protecting the pastures from dingo dogs.
Like New Zealand, Australia experienced a golden boom in the 1870s. But if easily accessible deposits were quickly depleted, then in general Australian reserves have not depleted so far. This is a real world pantry: almost the entire periodic table is mined here.
Australia secured its actual independence from the British crown thanks to ... technology of freezing meat. After it became possible to export not only wool, but also other parts of sheep, a country with a well-developed agriculture by that time could simply ignore London. And the British had the wisdom not to start a military operation far away: the air already smelled of the First World War.
And they had little chance of winning. After all, it was the original contingent of the first settlers that played a role in Australia's success. Courage, endurance, perseverance, ability to physical laborwere originally Australian trump cards over the pampered Europe.
There was no happiness, but the war helped
And then world wars thundered, which pretty much enriched Australia, remote from conflicts, with both increased demand for raw materials and human capital: thousands of qualified specialists left here from mobilization, fighting, devastation.
It must be said that not everyone was accepted: until the 1970s, the concept of "White Australia" dominated, and, say, Asians were actually not allowed to enter. Only when the level of education in Asia increased to more or less decent, the ban was lifted - and now immigrants from China, Indochina, and India play an important role in the country.
The rich bowels, the wonderful climate of the southern coast, multiplied by the harsh Protestant ethics (its traces can still be traced in the country, although most of its inhabitants are no longer religious), helped to make a flourishing land out of the inhospitable continent. There are a lot of problems in Australia, as elsewhere, - now, for example, it is the opposition to Muslim expansion (more precisely, the lifestyle that migrants bring with them), but it is hard to doubt that Australians will cope with this scourge. This is not Europe, everything is more serious and simple here.
Port Arthur is located on the Tasmania Peninsula, Australia. This small town is known for the fact that until 1877 it was a convict prison, considered one of the most terrible prisons in the world. It contained the most notorious criminals, including those who had already escaped from other prisons. The prison, built in 1933, served a sentence of approximately 13,000 prisoners, 2,000 of whom died there.
The Port Arthur Prison was a complex of 60 buildings. There were 80 solitary confinement cells, a hospital morgue, a Catholic chapel, a cathedral in which representatives of all faiths could pray, a psychiatric hospital, a bakery, a laundry, a kitchen, the commandant's residence, and much more. Most of the prison buildings were damaged during forest fires, wooden buildings were destroyed by them, only stone ones survived.
Port Arthur Prison is now accessible to tourists. They can inspect what remains of the prison buildings. Within the walls of the prison, actors act out scenes from the life of prisoners. Tours are also held on the Isle of the Dead, where the prison cemetery is located; tourists are also shown the former Point Puer colony for boys, where they were sent from the age of nine.
Coordinates: -43.14929800,147.85251300
Sue Paull has photographed inmates of Australia's most famous prisons for 15 years, teaching them art. Her stunning photographs show the world of murderers and rapists hidden behind bars.
Before becoming a prison art teacher and photographer, Poll worked in a school system whose rules she did not like. When she came to classes with especially dangerous prisoners, she felt rather at ease.
Under her leadership, hundreds of prisoners painted paintings, made pottery and sculptures, which were later exhibited at the Long Bay Prison and in many foreign galleries.
While working in the penitentiary system, Poll began photographing prisoners, first only in the art studio, and then outside it. Her stunning black and white photographs provide a glimpse into the hidden world of Australian prisons between 1993 and the late 2000s.
While using documentary style in many of his photographs, Poll nevertheless draws attention to beautiful images, such as tattoos of prisoners and their physical strength, which is vital for survival behind bars.
Prisoner Terry stands in front of one of his paintings, The Long Bay Hilton Foyer.
Inmate at the Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1993 during the daily physical exercise that many inmates do to keep fit in a rather dangerous prison environment.
Officer Jane in full gear at the Goulburn Correctional Center, where a female officer rescued male officers during a prisoner uprising in 2002, sustaining stab wounds and severe head injuries.
Prisoner Tom Foster displays his powerful physique and tattoos while working in a garden statue workshop at Silverwater General Security Prison, where he was transferred from Long Bay Prison.
Jailer on duty in 1996 on the top tier of Parramatta Correctional Center, which opened in 1798 and closed in 2011, an old rat-infested, crumbling sandstone prison.
Amanda and Michael in 1993 at Long Bay Prison, one of 34 New South Wales correctional centers, where transgender relationships are part of prison life.
Convicted killer Jeffrey Websdale, described by Sue Poll as a "superb specialist", alongside one of his jobs at Long Bay Prison in 2004. In 1989, as a trainee at a combine harvester, he shot and wounded two people in a combine camp, earning a maximum 25-year stay.
Inmate Wayne Brown, dressed in prison green sweatpants, poses for prison art teacher and photographer Sue Poll inside the Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1997. Poll was interested in his tattoos, which include the word "Mum" on his right arm.
Barbed wire and steel bars entangled the gates in the old part of the Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1997, where high-risk prisoners, including murderers and rapists, were then housed. Later, the prison began to accept less dangerous criminals.
Prisoner Andrew in the statue workshop at Silverwater Prison in 1997, during one of the final stages of his release.
A shirtless prisoner sunbathing at Long Bay Prison in 1994
An armed jailer at Tower 8 of Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1997. Only the guards in the tower can carry weapons and, if necessary, shoot fugitives or rioters.
An inmate at Long Bay Prison plays sports in the courtyard in 1993.
A female jailer at the gate of Long Bay Correctional Complex in 2007, through which all guards must pass to enter the working area of \u200b\u200bthe prison.
The prisoners make a variety of sharpenings from any pieces of metal they find, and even toothbrushes.
Inmate Steve displays his tattoos at the Long Bay Correctional Center in Sydney in 1994.
Secluded courtyards at Parkley Correctional Center in 1996 for violent and violent inmates.
Prisoner at the Long Bay Prison training ground in 1994.
Sue Poll worked with the prisoners as an art teacher. She found creative talent in hundreds of high-profile criminals.
Sue Poll photographed some of the prisoners' tattoos.
A wedding between a woman and an inmate at Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1996, before authorities banned weddings in maximum security prisons. The few that take place behind bars must now be cleared by the Commissioner.
Some of the tattoos are quite difficult to decipher.
Prisoner Tom Foster at Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1997 depicted a flower in his painting.
The interior of the 9th Wing of Long Bat Prison in 1997 shows cell doors during the renovation period when inmates were relocated to other prisons.
A cigarette in his mouth, a payroll official poses for Sue Poll at Long Bay Prison in 1993.
A rifle-armed female guard at Goulburn Correctional Center in 2004, two years after a riot in which 30 prisoners armed with homemade weapons attacked staff, injuring seven guards and nearly killing one.
Aboriginal prisoner Doug Pearce with one of his paintings. His works are now in collections in Canada, USA, France and Great Britain.
Inmate clothes hanging from a railing at Bathurst Correctional Center in 2000.
Young prisoner Simon at Long Bay Prison in 1993.
Aboriginal Jason stands in the shade of barbed wire from his large-scale painting outside an art studio in Long Bay Prison in 1999.
