This is a superbly written and insightful account of the extraordinary lives of 100 of australia's 'forgotten' female convicts.

A Cargo of Women: Susannah Watson and the Convicts of the Princess Royal

History

Smith, Babette

Europe

Univ of New South Wales

This is a superbly written and insightful account of the extraordinary lives of 100 of australia's 'forgotten' female convicts.

Cargo of Women: Susannah Watson and the Convicts of the Princess Royal

Australia & Oceania

Allen& Unwin

Babette Smith traces the stories of hundreds of convicts over the 80 years of convict transportation to Australia. Putting a human face on the convicts' experience, she paints a rich picture of their crimes in Britain and their lives in the colonies. We know about Port Arthur, Norfolk Island, chain gangs and floggings, but this was far from the experience of most. In fact, most convicts became good citizens and the backbone of the new nation. So why did we need to hide them away? Australia's Birthstain rewrites the story of Australia's convict foundations, revealing the involvement of British politicians and clergy in creating a birthstain that reached far beyond convict crimes. Its startling conclusion offers a fresh perspective on Australia's past.

Australia's Birthstain: The Startling Legacy of the Convict Era

The author of the bestselling Cargo of Women and Australia's Birthstain tracks the lives of Irish convicts. The luck of the Irish was chronic bad luck, as their sad history attests. That's how it looked for 250 Irish convicts when their ship, the Hive, sank ignominiously off the NSW coast in 1835. Miraculously all survived.

The Luck of the Irish: How a Shipload of Convicts Survived the Wreck of the Hive to Make a New Life in Australia

WHO WERE AUSTRALIA'S women convicts? Were they drunks and whores, 'genetic' criminals and moral degenerates as many observers believed? Or victims of circumstances almost unimaginable in the twentieth century, as others claim? A Cargo of Women traces the chequered story of one hundred women transported together in 1829 on the ship Princess Royal. Caught in an England convulsed by change, they became the unwitting and unwilling pioneers of a new land. Through imaginative use of detailed research, Babette Smith presents a personalised view of this group of women. She traces their stories, presenting us with a patchwork image of individual lives that are both rich and varied, and often poignantly tragic. We encounter their despair at being parted from their families and particular concern for the children left behind, their experiences of assigned service in the colony, the marriages that could provide salvation or the final degradation, the opportunities that existed for a new life in a society more socially mobile. Framing them all is the story of the indomitable Susannah Watson who, trapped in the crowded filthy slums of Nottingham, stole because she 'could not bear to see her children starving'. Separated forever from her husband and four children; she was transported for 14 years, but served 16. She endured the convict system at its worst, yet emerged triumphant to die in her bed aged 83 singing 'Rock of Ages'.

Rosenberg Publishing

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Books by Smith, Babette

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Smith, Babette. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Cargo of Women: Susannah Watson and the Convicts of the Princess Royal

Cargo of Women: Susannah Watson and the Convicts of the Princess Royal

Australia's Birthstain: The Startling Legacy of the Convict Era

The Luck of the Irish: How a Shipload of Convicts Survived the Wreck of the Hive to Make a New Life in Australia

A Cargo of Women: Susannah Watson and the Convicts of the Princess Royal