Yeah, I did my ancestry back to mid 1400 England a few years back. Have written about it.
A couple were sent to Australia as convicts after having their death sentences commuted to transportation to the penal colony on Van Diemens Land (Now Tasmania, an Australian State).
One was female (larceny) the other was male (burglary). I traced back their trials, the ship's they were transported on, where they were held and their eventual release after 20 years.
The penal colony, Port Arthur, is notorious for its brutality back then and 20 years in there would have been very tough. It's a tourist attraction now.
In 1996 it was also the scene of a 34 person mass murder shooting by a guy called Martin Bryant. More brutality in an already dark place.
I'm proud of my convict ancestors. All Aussie's are if they have convict ancestry. We hold them up as a badge of honour.
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That is incredible. How fun to find their trials. Nothing that interesting happened in mine - I have the run-of-the-mill immigrant stories. None if that exciting convict stuff :)
Yes, especially considering it was a couple hundred years ago. Still, I'm glad I looked into it.
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