Australian History - Is There a Natural Experiment in the Effects of Human Capital?

The modern state of australia has its origins as a british penal colony. Are there any legible effects of starting with a population of ex prisoners? It's a fascinating question. The convict population are not inferior in a re obvious sense to those who moved voluntarily. And if you look all the way through to the present day, in the early 20 first century, estimates vary. But a number i've seen is about just over two million cases of australians who were convicts from 1788-1868. That would be just about ten per cent of the australian population. So hardly enough to explain australia's extraordinary success in the late 1900s and