looking it up, Bringin you the Facts! You heard it here first:
-britain sent an estimated 50,000 convicts from debtors prisons to north american penal colonies in the 18th century

-after the revolutionary war, britain started sending them to australia and elsewhere instead

- Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 162,000 convicts were transported to the various Australian penal colonies by the British government.

Thoughts/opinions: Sounds like australia was a bigger shithole than north america at the start; just sayin