The Female Convicts Research Centre promotes interest in the female convicts of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), by encouraging and facilitating research.
From 1803 to 1853, 13,500 female convicts were transported to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), as punishment for crimes, mainly theft. After serving their sentences they were released into the community. Their transportation left a lasting legacy.
The Female Convicts Research Centre encourages research into these female convicts, mainly through its database, website and seminars.
When you register with the FCRC, you gain access to our database where you will find information entered by our volunteers as we attempt to reconstruct the life course of each female convict.
We update this website and our database regularly and sometimes daily, as our volunteer transcribers continue to provide new information. Please bookmark this page and return soon.
Latest News:
FCRC Seminar 2023
Presented in partnership with the School of Humanities, University of Tasmania
Date: Sunday, 7th May 2023
Transported for Life: a lottery?
Just over 780 female convicts sent to Van Diemen’s Land were sentenced to transportation for life. Our next Female Convicts Research Centre seminar will focus on these women.
Books, Theses & Reports - Tasmania v British Empire by Alison Alexander (updated 15/07/2022)
Justice System - An updated web page, replacing the 'Magistrates' page, expanding on the justice system in Van Dieman's Land as it operated during the convict era. (2/06/2022).
Probation System - Overview and Timeline (contributed by Helen Menard, 20/05/2022).
Parliament of Australia e-petition EN4747 - Fully fund Trove
E-Petition EN4747 closes 22 February 2023 11:59 PM (AEDT)
Trove is an online archive that provides access to a huge range of archives free to all Australians. It is the memory house for the nation and imperative for researchers, genealogists, family historians and students. It receives 20 million hits a year and is a vital part of Australian heritage. Currently, funding for Trove expires in July 2023.
We therefore ask the House to fully fund Trove so that the nation's memories can be accessed by all Australians and provides them with the opportunity to understand and know our own history.
FCRC Seminar 2023
Presented in partnership with the School of Humanities, University of Tasmania
Date: Sunday, 7th May 2023
Transported for Life: a lottery?
Just over 780 female convicts sent to Van Diemen’s Land were sentenced to transportation for life. Our next Female Convicts Research Centre seminar will focus on these women.
As many of you may already know TROVE is currently fighting for its life! Existing funding for TROVE runs out in July 2023. Ongoing government funding is not guaranteed. Without future financial support TROVE will be unable to develop and expand its services and, at worst, will no longer be a publicly accessible resource. It will cease to exist.
TROVE is an online library database owned by the National Library of Australia working in collaboration with hundreds of partner organisations around Australia including state libraries, government departments, universities, museums, galleries and many professional organisations. These partner organisations also make substantial contributions to the operating costs of TROVE.
TROVE was established in 2009 and since then has provided free public access to a wide variety of historical and cultural information including newspapers and gazettes, magazines, maps, research, reports, books, diaries, music, videos, organisations, websites and much more.
We are all products of our history – whether it be family, geographical, political, cultural or religious. As a society we learn from history. For many of us, it is an intrinsic part of our nature to want to know what events impacted on our own creation and development. Sadly, many of our early historical records have been destroyed or have not survived the ravages of time. It is therefore critical that we are able to save and digitise those that have survived and are stored in archives around the country. Since its inception thousands of TROVE volunteers (Voluntroves) have preserved our history by transcribing and digitising historical documents, newspapers, books, research etc. For this we are enormously grateful.
TROVE is a critical resource for researchers and writers, family historians and students involved in academic research and teaching Australian history, culture, politics, literature and genealogy. Many FCRC members, researchers and family historians use TROVE on a daily basis. It is an integral part of researching the lives of our female convicts and piecing together their stories that portray the contribution many of these women and their families made to the evolution of this country. Without TROVE many of their stories would be untold.
Please help us to protect this invaluable resource.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Express your support for retaining funding for TROVE and email the Minister for the Arts This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Books, Theses & Reports - Tasmania v British Empire by Alison Alexander (updated 15/07/2022)
Justice System - An updated web page, replacing the 'Magistrates' page, expanding on the justice system in Van Dieman's Land as it operated during the convict era. (2/06/2022).
Probation System - Overview and Timeline (contributed by Helen Menard, 20/05/2022).
