This paper is an empirical and theoretical analysis of buggery charges brought against men in New South Wales in the period 1788—1838. Drawing on a previously unexamined archive, it shows that an irregular pattern of charges in the first forty years of colonization was displaced by a dramatic increase in buggery charges in the period 1828–1838, and a move towards charging accused persons capitally; that the genesis of most complaints was community, rather than official, surveillance; and that throughout the entire period witnesses were far from circumspect in their evidence of unspeakable acts. The paper then argues that the upswing in charges post-1828 was only partly related to the introduction of the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 and its lower evidentiary threshold for proof of buggery. More important, it suggests, was the acute moralism of NSW society in the 1820s and 1830s, generated in part by John Thomas Bigge's 1822 Report into the State of the Colony of New South Wales. The move towards capital charges, however, does appear to bear some relationship to the changes in the Offences Act. The final part of the paper connects social anxiety over buggery to the 1837–38 Molesworth Inquiry into Transportation and the eventual cessation of convict transportation to NSW in 1840.

中文翻译：

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说难以言喻的事：1788-1838 年新南威尔士州的鸡奸、法律和社区监视

本文是对 1788 年至 1838 年期间新南威尔士州对男性的肛交指控的实证和理论分析。根据以前未经审查的档案，它表明殖民化头四十年的不规则指控模式被 1828 年至 1838 年期间鸡奸指控的急剧增加所取代，以及向被告人收取巨额费用的趋势；大多数投诉的根源是社区而不是官方的监视；并且在整个期间，证人在证明无法形容的行为时都非常谨慎。该论文随后辩称，1828 年后指控的上升仅部分与 1828 年《侵犯人身罪法》的引入及其作为肛交证据的较低证据门槛有关。更重要的是，它表明，是 1820 年代和 1830 年代新南威尔士州社会的尖锐道德主义，部分是由约翰·托马斯·比格 1822 年关于新南威尔士州殖民地的报告产生的。然而，向资本收费的转变似乎与《犯罪法》的变化有某种关系。论文的最后一部分将鸡奸的社交焦虑与 1837-38 年 Molesworth 交通调查以及 1840 年最终停止向新南威尔士州运送罪犯的行为联系起来。