The effect of transportation on Jewish convicts in Van Dieman's Land

Abstract

The history of the Jewish convicts in Van Diemen's Land is one that provides the researcher with a wide area to consider. The most important question however would be, what effect did transportation have on the Jewish convict? Was their sense of identity overwhelmed by the artificial Christian emphasis 'offered' by colonial penal society? The evidence perhaps in most cases would suggest that assimilation, induced by environmental factors was the end result of transportation.