Many fictional works have been written about convicts and their transportation, including novels, plays, and television series. Some of these are listed here. If you know of any others, please contact us so that we can add them to the list.

 

Recent Update

 

 
   

Novels

Carol Birch
  • Scapegallows, 2007
Beth Camp
Peter Carey
  • Jack Maggs, 1997
Marcus Clarke
  • For the Term of His Natural Life, c1871
Raymond W Clarke
  • Hannah, 2009
Josephine Cox
The Emma Grady Trilogy
  • Outcast, 1991
  • Alley Urchin, 1991
  • Vagabonds, 1992
Bryce Courtenay
The Australian Trilogy
  • The Potato Factory, 1995
  • Tommo & Hawk, 1997
  • Solomon's Song, 1999
Sue Cox

Banished beyond the seas, 2017 (Forty South Publishing Pty Ltd)

 

 

Eleanor Dark
The Timeless Land Trilogy
  • The Timeless Land, 1941
  • Storm of Time, 1948
  • No Barrier, 1953
Charles Dickens
  • Great Expectations, 1861
Richard Flanagan
  • Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish, 2001
Catherine Gaskin
  • Sara Dane, 1954 (made into a television series in 1982)
Joan Goodrick
  • Vandemon's Daughter, 1974
Kate Grenville
  • The Secret River, 2005
Oliné Keese (Caroline Leakey)
  • The Broad Arrow, 1859
Thomas Keneally
  • The Playmaker, 1987
Christopher Koch
  • Out of Ireland, 1999
John Lewis
  • Savage Exile, 2002
William Stuart Long
  • The Exiles, 1979 (the first book in the Australians series)
Bob Mainwairing
  • Escape to Van Diemen's Land, 2007
John Marsden
  • South of Darkness, 2014
Colleen McCullough
  • Morgan's Run, 2000
Roger McDonald
  • The Ballad of Desmond Kale, 2007 (winner of the 2006 Miles Franklin Award)
Rosemary Noble
  • Search for the Light, 2014 (eBook)
Judy Nunn
  • Beneath the Southern Cross, 2007
Lesley Pearse
  • Remember Me, 2003
Jean Plaidy
  • Beyond the Blue Mountains, 1948
Henry Savery
  • Quintus Servinton, 1831
Patricia Shaw
  • On Emerald Downs, 2002
  • Storm Bay, 2005
Babette Smith
  • A Cargo of Women the Novel, 1991
Sarah Stovell
  • The Night Flower, 2013
Veronica Geoghegan Sweeney
  • The Emancipist: A Saga of the Early Days of Australia, 1986
Margaret Tanner
  • Savage Utopia, 2008
  • Stolen Birthright, 2008
James Tucker
  • Ralph Rashleigh, 1952 (written 1845–50)
Price Warung (William Astley)
  • Tales of the Convict System, 1892
  • Tales of the Early Days, 1894
Peter Yeldham
  • The Currency Lads, 1998

Plays

This Is Eden

Inspired by stories of the female convict crime class.

Experimental performance at La Mama Theatre, Carlton, VIC, 11–13 November 2014.

To premiere at Hothouse Theatre in 2015.

 


Please acknowledge our work, should you choose to use our research.  Our work may be subject to copyright therefore please check our Copyright Policy, and Disclaimer policy.

For academic referencing (suggestion only) Database: [http address], FCRC Female Convicts in Van Diemen’s Land database, entry for xxxx ID no xxx, accessed online [date].

For academic referencing (suggestion only) Website:  Female Convicts Research Centre Inc., accessed online [date] from [http address].