Irish convicts and Van Diemen's Land

The aim of this thesis is to examine in detail the origins, of Irish convicts transported to Van Diemen 's Land and to discuss how they reacted to colonial conditions. All Irish-born prisoners sent to the colony have been included in this study. During the transportation period 1803 to 1853 several thousand felons of Irish birth came from areas of the British Empire other than Ireland. English or Scottish courts sentenced the majority but a few met their fate in other Australian colonies or while serving with the British army in overseas territories. They need to be included because they shared a common Irish background with convicts tried in Ireland. Many of them had been forced by poverty or famine to leave their homeland and they tended to retain their Irish traditions. Unfortunately it was found impossible to account for their descendants. Although under the influence of Irish parents and living mostly in Irish ghettos or slums in Britain it would have been an extremely difficult task to distinguish them from o·ther prisoners convicted in the same courts. The records only note their place of birth and trial.