There were no paupers aboard the First Fleet, nor any poor laws. There were paid officials of the central state under the direction of the Home Office; there was a military force of Marines, some with their families; and there were convicts, state dependents who legally were no longer the responsibility of a parish but were under the control of the Home Office. The labor of the convicts, but not their persons, was assigned to Governor Phillip, who in turn would assign that labor as he thought fit in the colony, subject of course to instructions from his superiors. Who needed a poor law in a jail?