ABSTRACT The transportation of convicts to Australia between 1788 and the mid-1800s arouses mixed responses from those who seek the origins of Australian society and culture. The worst aspects of Australian character have readily been blamed upon convict ancestors, while the best aspects of that character might be seen as evidence of triumph over adversity, … Continue reading Ballarat’s Betsy Buckley: “victim of circumstance” or “habitual criminal”?
Australian History
Parramatta Female Factory Biographies
Parramatta, New South Wales by Lycett, Joseph, c. 1775-1828 Published by J. Souter, Sep.1, 1824 (National Library of Australia) Biographies of female convicts who spent some time at the Parramatta Female Factory previously prepared for the Parramatta Female Factory Online have been relocated to this page. Additional biographies also include female convicts who worked in … Continue reading Parramatta Female Factory Biographies
Earth, Wind, Fire, Water – Gold!
Earth, Wind, Fire, Water — Gold: Bushfires and the Origins of the Victorian Gold Rush Douglas Wilkie Originally published in History Australia, vol.10, no.2, August 2013 Abstract Many historians have noticed the coincidence of the 1851 Black Thursday fires in the Port Phillip District of New South Wales (Victoria) with the beginning of the Victorian … Continue reading Earth, Wind, Fire, Water – Gold!
Frankenstein, Convicts, and Wide-Awake Geniuses: The Life and Death of Charles Brentani
Originally published as Douglas Wilkie, ‘Frankenstein, Convicts and Wide-Awake Geniuses: The life and death of Charles Brentani’, Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 87, No. 1, June 2016 Extract: In 1838 Alexander Maconochie, private secretary to the Van Diemen’s Land Governor, Sir John Franklin, wrote a damning report on the state of prison discipline in the colony. … Continue reading Frankenstein, Convicts, and Wide-Awake Geniuses: The Life and Death of Charles Brentani
The Convict Ship Hashemy at Port Phillip: a case study in historical error
This article was originally published as: ‘The convict ship Hashemy at Port Phillip: a case study in historical error’ Victorian Historical Journal, vol 85, no 1, June 2014 [Download the original article from UniMelb Minerva or Academia] Citations should refer to the pagination of the original article. Responses to this paper Tweeted when presented in … Continue reading The Convict Ship Hashemy at Port Phillip: a case study in historical error
From The Edges of Empire
From the Edges of Empire: Convict Women from Beyond the British Isles. Edited by Lucy Frost and Colette McAlpine. This book tells the remarkable stories of women transported to Australia from the British Isles. These stirring accounts remind us that the colonies were, from their beginning, populated by people from many cultures, and encourage us to envision … Continue reading From The Edges of Empire
Duchene / Hargraves
ALEXANDRE JULIEN DUCHENE was not even four years into a fourteen year sentence in Van Diemen’s Land in 1840 when Major D’Arcy Wentworth, the Police Magistrate at Launceston, described him as ‘a man of most exemplary conduct’. Edward Hammond Hargraves, was less than two years into enjoying his claim to have started the Australian gold … Continue reading Duchene / Hargraves
