Convict Women's Press

Latest Publication: Launch 7 May 2023, by Emeritus Professor Kate Warner, Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania

Convict Lives: Young girls transported to Van Diemen's Land.

Edited by Alison Alexander

Jane Smith, a ‘little girl’ of thirteen, was transported to Van Diemen’s Land for arson. Mary Ann Oseman was nine when she served her first jail sentence for theft, and was transported aged twelve. Mary Ann Little had been a prostitute for four years before being transported at fifteen. Their stories, and those of 26 other girls, are told in this fascinating book.

Coming from fractured families, sometimes homeless vagrants: what happened when these girls, still children, arrived in Van Diemen’s Land and were expected to work obediently as domestic servants? Many rebelled: Mary Ann Little committed 38 offences and spent 646 days – almost two years – in solitary confinement. Others knuckled down, committing few or no offences. Some met with kindness – from doctors, perhaps from mistresses or older fellow-convicts. All but one found male partners, and some became devoted wives and mothers. Others were dogged by tragedy, with abusive husbands, alcoholism and continued offences.

These lives are gripping – amusing, moving, unexpected – told by authors from around Australia and as far away as Scotland.  Four are descended from these girls. These vivid stories from Convict Women’s Press continue our series of books that bring convict women to life.

Copies of the book can be bought from selected book stores or online through the CWP website, at https://www.convictwomenspress.com.au

Convict Lives: Female Convicts at the New Norfolk Asylum

The latest publication from Convict Women's Press Inc was launched on the 1st May 2021, by Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner, AC, Governor of Tasmania.

The sixth publication in the series of Convict Lives in Van Diemen’s Land has been edited by Dianne Snowden and Jane Harrington.

Initially opening as an invalid hospital in 1829 at New Norfolk, the hospital was shortly renamed the New Norfolk Asylum for the Insane. It housed both convict and free men and women, and its inmates included hundreds of convict women.

Recounting the lives of 15 women using archival material and family records, the book’s 22 authors reconstruct the lives of individual convict women, the reasons for their admission and their treatment in the Asylum.  The stories highlight there is much more to the life of a convict than a crime, trial and sentence. Seven of the authors are descendants of these women and share family stories of fractured and fragmented lives.

Copies of the book can be bought from selected book stores or online through the CWP website, at https://www.convictwomenspress.com.au

Convict Lives at the Cascades Female Factory (Volume 2)

Launched on the 22nd April, 2018 by Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner, AC, Governor of Tasmania.

Convict Lives at the Cascades Female Factory (Volume 2) features the fascinating lives of 29 female convicts who spent time in the Cascades Female Factory, between 1829 and 1855. The women range from young offenders to prosperous matriarchs; from tough customers to those educated enough to write letters home. Some got through the convict system fairly easily; some struggled, committing offence after offence – insolence, neglect of work, theft. Some had children, some did not. Many saw their children die. Some died in childbirth.
The 24 authors of the stories come from Tasmania, the Australian mainland and as far afield as Canada. Some are descendants of the female convict they write about, and bring family knowledge to their story. Others are academics, general historians or just interested people.
This is the fifth book in the Convict Women’s Press series of Convict Lives in Van Diemen’s Land’s female factories. It is a wonderful collection of stories, showing the ups and downs of Tasmania’s convict system, and the important role of the Cascades Female Factory.

Convict Lives at the Cascades Female Factory is compiled by Female Convicts Research Centre members and edited by Alison Alexander and Alice Meredith Hodgson.

Copies of the book can be bought from selected book stores or online through the CWP website at https://www.convictwomenspress.com.au

Launch of Repression, Reform & Resilience: a history of the Cascades Female Factory

Repression, Reform and Resilience: a history of the Cascades Female Factory tells the story of the Cascades site: its beginnings as a whiskey distillery, through its grim time as a prison for female convicts, then as an institution for poor and unfortunate people ranging from orphans to lunatics and the elderly. From 1905 it was used for activities such as tennis and making aloe boxes and wine, but from 1977 the crumbling ruins were protected and restored. Today the Female Factory is a World Heritage site, popular with tourists and greatly prized for its historic importance.

Repression, Reform and Resilience: a history of the Cascades Female Factory is compiled by Female Convicts Research Centre members and edited by Alison Alexander.

Edges of Empire Biographical Dictionary Website

Following the November 2015 Launch of their paperback

"From the Edges of Empire: Convict Women from beyond the British Isles",

Convict Women's Press have launched the book's companion website: Edges of Empire Biographical Dictionary. with accounts of over 160 female convicts who were tried or born outside the British Isles, compiled by Female Convicts Research Centre members.