Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/56276
Title: Adolescent growth and convict transportation to nineteenth-century Australia
Contributor(s): Donald, Terence  (author); Inwood, Kris (author); Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2023-04-03
Early Online Version: 2022-11-15
DOI: 10.1080/1081602X.2022.2143391
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/56276
Abstract: 

This paper explores growth patterns for British and Irish adolescents transported to Australia in the 19th century. During incarceration in Australia, the young convicts did not catch up with contemporary standards of potential stature—contrary to what we are led to expect by the existing literature and the high calorie convict diet. Rather, the experience of transportation stunted the adolescent male convicts. Variation between height on arrival and in later life confirms that teen convicts remained shorter than their shipmates transported after reaching maturity. We consider, but reject, agedependent selection as a potential explanation. We speculate that the origin of this unfortunate experience lies in the low economic value of young and unskilled males. While fewer data are available for female convicts, their colonial experiences appear to have differed, again consistent with their relative economic value in the colony.

Publication Type: Journal Article
Grant Details: ARC/DP220101509
Source of Publication: The History of the Family, 28(2), p. 256-277
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Place of Publication: The United Kingdom
ISSN: 1873-5398
1081-602X
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 380103 Economic history
430302 Australian history
430306 Digital history
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 130703 Understanding Australia’s past
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

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