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34
CHAPTER 5
THE PROBATION SYSTEM
May 1, 1839 .
Hall started work as District As sistant Surgeon at Bothwe ll on
The change from private medical practice to employment in
the Medical Department , forced by the economic exigencies of the time ,
brought with it many new experiences , different medical conditions to test
his skill, and , above all, the necessity for a wider and deeper insight into
and understanding of the social and health prob lems which lay at the heart
of community life.
He was now not only the doctor to be consulted by the
free settlers , the so-called respectable and often well to do element of
society, but also 11the convict doctor" respons ib le for the health and
welfare of many unfortunate human beings who were frequently in no position
either to know what was good for thems elves , or to do anything about it if
they did.
For Hall greater respons ibilities, of necessity , \·ere to induce
greater depth and breadth of vision.
After almost six years in Van Diemen' 3
Land, he \·as very aware of
the convict population of the island . An as signed servant living in his
house obtained a Ticket-of-Leave while the family was in Brighton and was
replaced by a male servant recently arrived on the ship "Augusta Jessie" . 1
Consequently, he had first hand experience of the difficulties confront ing
the master and the newl arrived assigned convict who was endeavouring to
come to terms with a totally new way of life in a strange environment .
But of the prob lems associated with the mass of convicts he probably knew
very little.
Oddly enough , his entry into the Government Medi cal Serv ice
coincided with sweeping changes taking place in the British Government 's
policy concerning convicts transported to Van Diemen 's Land .
These changes
were , indeed, to have a very significant and far-reaching effect upon his
future life, both private and professional and for this reason merit
discussion.
By the late thirties of the nineteenth century , assignment had
been in operation for about fifty years during which it had operated
reasonab ly well in a difficult situation .
However , from 1830-35, those
Gazette, Dec. 14, 1838 .