He is talking about the charisma that most display that type of mugshot was typical for the time period though the wearing street clothes bit.
I think most of these are the shots that they took upon entry into the penal system so the convicts are still wearing the clothes they wore in court or upon reporting if they where allowed bail and then where convicted.
I think most people that got sent to Australia most likely kind of wanted to go anyway in order to escape the squalor of urban England at the time.At any rate the number of immigrants to Australia always far out numbered the ratio of convicts 165,000 cons in total over 80 years vs. in just one year 1852 370,000 immigrants.
North America was also a penal colony used by the British all though not exclusively like Australia initially was so we have more in common with our Aussie cousins than most Americans realize.In fact the wining of the Revolutionary War put an end to the British practice of using North America for penal transportation.Can't send a dissident to Canada lest he travel to America where he might become even more hostile towards British rule.
In Australia you can keep him far away yet still under foot.
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