Female convict labour and absconding rates in colonial Australia

Title
Female convict labour and absconding rates in colonial Australia
Publication Date
2017-01-01
Author(s)
Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7336-0953
Email: hmaxwell@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:hmaxwell
Quinlan, Michael
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
University of Tasmania, School of History and Classics
Place of publication
Australia
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/32150
Abstract
In early 1837 Mr Jones residing in Erskine Street, Sydney, discovered that two of his female convicts were missing. As he later related in court, Jones suspected that Mary Ann Mansfield and Mary Smith had gone, or intended to go, to the nearby settlement of Parramatta—a short trip away by water. Anxious to intercept his absconding servants Jones hastened down to the quay where he boarded the Experiment steamer — a vessel that made regular trips to Parramatta as well as occasional pleasure cruises on Middle Harbour. There he discovered the two women 'comfortably seated' and 'fashionably attired' in the cabin. Having clapped eyes on his absconding felon servants, Jones placed them in the custody of a constable. They were subsequently charged and each sentenced to two-months hard labour in the female House of Correction (an institution that was, ironically, located in Parramatta).
Link
Citation
Tasmanian Historical Studies, v.22, p. 19-36
ISSN
1324-048X
Start page
19
End page
36

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