Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Convict Origins

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
An Archaeology of Australia Since 1788

Part of the book series: Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology ((CGHA))

Abstract

Convicts have an iconic status in Australian history. Many modern Australians take pride in claiming descent from convict ancestors, although this was not always the case in the past. Convict ancestry provides a colourful and immediate link with the origins of white settlement in this young, settler society, and for many non-Australians, convictism is the one part of Australian colonial history with which they are familiar. The convict past that lives in popular understanding, however, is often at odds with scholarly research on the subject. There are many stereotypes of convict life that appear and reappear in popular culture. Typically, convicts were almost exclusively male and always adults. Female convicts are imagined as prostitutes, or at least sexually promiscuous. Most convicts, both male and female, were transported as a result of manifestly unjust punishment for trivial acts such as theft of food or clothing that a harsh and inequitable society forced them to commit in order to survive. Once in Australia, convicts were locked in gaols and barracks, kept in chains and flogged frequently and horrifically. They were so brutalised that they resorted to anything in order to escape, including mutiny, cannibalism and suicide.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Australian Government (2008) Australian Convict Sites: World Heritage Nomination. Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Canberra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bickford, Anne (1991) The Australian ICOMOS charter (the Burra charter) and first government house. In: Graeme Davison and Chris McConville (eds.), A Heritage Handbook, pp. 38–42. Allen and Unwin, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blainey, Geoffrey (1966) The Tyranny of Distance. Sun Books, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bogle, Michael (2008) Convicts: Transportation and Australia, revised edition. Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Broadbent, James, Suzanne Rickard and Margaret Steven (2003) India, China, Australia: Trade and Society 1788–1850. Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brodie, Allan, Jane Croom and James O. Davies (2002) English Prisons: An Architectural History. English Heritage, Swindon, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, Maureen (1976) Ross Bridge, Tasmania. Australian Society for Historical Archaeology, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casella, Eleanor C. (1997) ‘A large and efficient Establishment’: preliminary report on fieldwork at the Ross female factory. Australasian Historical Archaeology 15:79–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casella, Eleanor C. (2000a) Bulldaggers and gentle ladies: archaeological approaches to female homosexuality in convict-era Australia. In: Robert A. Schmidt and Barbara L. Voss (eds.), Archaeologies of Sexuality, pp. 143–159. Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casella, Eleanor C. (2001a) Every procurable object: A functional analysis of the Ross factory archaeological collection. Australasian Historical Archaeology 19:25–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casella, Eleanor C. (2001b) Landscapes of punishment and resistance: a female convict settlement in Tasmania, Australia. In: Barbara Bender and Margot Winer (eds.), Contested Landscapes: Landscapes of Movement and Exile, pp. 103–118. Berg, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casella, Eleanor C. (2001c) To watch or restrain: female convict prisons in 19th century Tasmania. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 5(1):45–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casella, Eleanor C. (2002) Archaeology of the Ross Female Factory: Female Incarceration in Van Diemen’s Land, Australia. Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston, Tasmania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casella, Eleanor C. (2005) Prisoner of his majesty: postcoloniality and the archaeology of British penal transportation. World Archaeology 37(3):453–467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casella, Eleanor C. (2007) The Archaeology of Institutional Confinement. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casey, Mary (1999) Local pottery and dairying at the DMR Site, Brickfields, Sydney, New South Wales. Australasian Historical Archaeology 17:3–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casey, Mary (2005b) The road to controversy. In: Jane Lydon and Tracy Ireland (eds.), Object Lessons: Archaeology and Heritage in Australia, pp. 148–166. Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connah, Graham (1998) The archaeology of frustrated ambition: an Australian case study. Historical Archaeology 32(2):7–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connah, Graham (2001) The Lake Innes estate: privilege and servitude in nineteenth-century Australia. World Archaeology 33(1):137–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connah, Graham (2007) The Same Under a Different Sky? A Country Estate in Nineteenth-Century New South Wales. BAR International Series 1625, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connah, Graham (2009) Lake Innes: identifying socioeconomic status in the archaeological record. Historical Archaeology 43(3):82–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crook, Penny (2000) Shopping and historical archaeology: exploring the contexts of urban consumption. Australasian Historical Archaeology 18:17–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crook, Penny, Laila Ellmoos, and Tim Murray (2003a) Assessment of Historical and Archaeological Resources of the Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney. Volume 4 of the Archaeology of the Modern City Series, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damousi, Joy (1997) Depraved and Disorderly: Female Convicts, Sexuality and Gender in Colonial Australia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Daniels, Kay (1993) The flash mob: rebellion, rough culture and sexuality in the female factories of Van Diemen’s Land. Australian Feminist Studies 18(Summer):133–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dent, John (2002) Yorktown: Manmade Structures. West Tamar Historical Society, Launceston, Tasmania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Egloff, Brian J. (1984) Cultural resource management, a view from Port Arthur historic site. The Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology 2:73–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmett, Peter (1996) WYSIWYG on the site of first government house. In: Sue Hunt (ed.), Sites: Nailing the Debate: Archaeology and Interpretation in Museums, pp. 107–122. Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, Michel (1977) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Penguin, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frost, Alan (1994), Botany Bay Mirages: Illusions of Australia’s Convict Beginnings. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frost, Alan (2003) The Global Reach of Empire: Britain’s Maritime Expansion in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, 1764–1815. The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs, Martin (2001) The archaeology of the convict system in Western Australia. Australasian Historical Archaeology 19:60–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gojak, Denis (2001) Convict archaeology in New South Wales: an overview of the investigation, analysis and conservation of convict heritage sites. Australasian Historical Archaeology 19:73–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greer, Shelley, Rodney Harrison and Susan McIntyre-Tamwoy (2002) Community-based archaeology in Australia. World Archaeology 34(2):265–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirst, John (1983) Convict Society and its Enemies: A History of Early New South Wales. George Allen and Unwin, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holden, Robert (1999) Orphans of History: The Forgotten Children of the First Fleet. Text Publishing, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hooper, F.C. (1967) Prison Boys of Port Arthur. F.W. Cheshire, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, Robert (1986) The Fatal Shore: A History of the Transportation of Convicts to Australia, 1787–1868. Collins and Harvill, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphery, Kim (1997) Point Puer: Images and Practices of Juvenile Imprisonment in Convict Australia. Report submitted to the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, Tasmania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ignatieff, Michael (1978) A Just Measure of Pain: The Penitentiary in the Industrial Revolution 1750–1850. Macmillan, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ireland, Tracy (2004) The Burra charter and historical archaeology: reflections on the legacy of Port Arthur. Historic Environment 18(1):25–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jack, R. Ian (1979) Introduction. In: Judy Birmingham, R. Ian Jack and Denis Jeans (eds.), Australian Pioneer Technology: Sites and Relics, pp. 1–10. Heinemann Educational Australia, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackman, Greg (2001) Get thee to Church: hard work, Godliness and tourism at Australia’s first rural reformatory. Australasian Historical Archaeology 19:6–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackman, Greg (2009) From stain to saint: ancestry, archaeology, and Agendas in Tasmania’s convict heritage – a view from Port Arthur. Historical Archaeology 43(3):101–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karskens, Grace (1984) The Convict Road station site at Wiseman’s Ferry: an historical and archaeological investigation. The Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology 2:17–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karskens, Grace (1986) Defiance, deference and diligence: three views of convicts in New South Wales road gangs. Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology 4:17–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karskens, Grace (1997) The Rocks: Life in Early Sydney. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karskens, Grace (1999) Inside the Rocks: The Archaeology of a Neighbourhood. Hale and Iremonger, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karskens, Grace (2009) The Colony: A History of Early Sydney. Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, New South Wales.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, James S. (1984) Design for Convicts: An Account of Design for Convict Establishments in the Australian colonies During the Transportation Era. Library of Australian History in association with the National Trust of Australia (New South Wales) and the Australian Society for Historical Archaeology, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kostoglou, Parry (2003) York Town Historic Site: Archaeological Component of Historic Heritage Conservation Management Plan. West Tamar Historical Society, Launceston, Tasmania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macknight, Campbell (1998) Low Head to Launceston: The Earliest Reports of Port Dalrymple and the Tamar. Historical Survey of Northern Tasmania, Launceston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Markus, Thomas A. (1993) Buildings and Power: Freedom and Control in the Origins of Modern Building Types. Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholas, Stephen (ed.) (1988) Convict Workers: Reinterpreting Australia’s Past. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orser, Charles E. (1988) The Material Basis of the Postbellum Tenant Plantation: Historical Archaeology in the South Carolina Piedmont. University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oxley, Deborah (1996) Convict Maids: The Forced Migration of Women to Australia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Proudfoot, Helen, Anne Bickford, Brian Egloff and Robyn Stocks (1991) Australia’s First Government House. Allen and Unwin, with Department of Planning, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singleton, Theresa A. (1995) The archaeology of slavery in North America. Annual Review of Anthropology 24:119–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Starr, Fiona (2001) Convict artefacts from the civil hospital privy on Norfolk Island. Australasian Historical Archaeology 19:39–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stine, Linda F. (1990) Social inequality and turn of the century farmsteads: issues of class, status, ethnicity and race. Historical Archaeology 24(4):37–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vermeer, Andrea C. (2009) Men-women and children: gender and the structuring of historical archaeology. In: Teresita Majewski and David Gaimster (eds.), International Handbook of Historical Archaeology, pp. 319–331. Springer, New York, NY.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wileman, Julie (2005) Hide and Seek: The Archaeology of Childhood. Tempus, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkie, Laurie (2000) Not merely child’s play: creating a historical archaeology of children and childhood. In: Joanna Sofaer Derevenski (eds.), Children and Material Culture, pp. 100–113. Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkie, Laurie (2003) The Archaeology of Mothering: An African-American Midwife’s Tale. Routledge, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, Sarah (2004) A Forgotten Landscape: An historical archaeology of the first settlement in the north of Tasmania. Unpublished BA (Honours) dissertation, Archaeology Program, La Trobe University, Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Archaeology Program, La Trobe University, 3086, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia

    Susan Lawrence & Peter Davies

Authors
  1. Susan Lawrence
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Peter Davies
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan Lawrence .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lawrence, S., Davies, P. (2011). Convict Origins. In: An Archaeology of Australia Since 1788. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7485-3_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation