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The Convict and the Compass – The Untold Story of Irish Political Convict and Colonial Surveyor James Meehan | Peter Bradley | 2025 [NEW – HCDJ]
Added: Apr 17, 2026

James Meehan was sentenced at 26 for his role in an uprising against British rule in Ireland and arrived in Australia in 1800 as a convict servant to English explorer Charles Grimes. Through talent and persistence he rose to become Acting Surveyor General of the New South Wales colony, working under five governors from 1800 to 1822.


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Convicts

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Port Arthur Railway Across the Tasman Peninsula – Australia's First Railway | William A. Bayley | 1971 [USED – SC – Out of Print – Reprint]

William A. Bayley's history of the Port Arthur railway — Australia's first railway, built across the Tasman Peninsula using convict labour in the 1830s. What made it remarkable — and what visitors to the Tasman Peninsula still find hard to believe — is that it was not steam powered. Convicts pushed the carriages along the track by hand, running behind and pushing, or sitting in seats at the rear and using their feet against the ground.


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Port Arthur – A Place of Misery | Maggie Weidenhofer | 1990 [USED]

A history of Port Arthur, the convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula that operated from 1830 to 1877. Maggie Weidenhofer covers the establishment and daily operation of the station, the people held there, and its place in Tasmania's convict heritage.


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Probation in Paradise – Convict Probationers on the Tasman and Forestier Peninsulas 1841–1857 | John Thompson | 2007 | Signed by Author [USED – SC – Out of Print]

John Thompson's history of the convict probation system on the Tasman and Forestier Peninsulas of Van Diemen's Land — the period from 1841 to 1857 when the probation system replaced the assignment system as the primary method of managing transported convicts. The Tasman Peninsula was the location of Port Arthur, and the surrounding country including the Forestier Peninsula held numerous probation stations where convicts worked through the stages of their sentences before receiving tickets of leave.


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Recollections of Life in Van Diemen's Land | William Gates (one of the Canadian Patriots) | George Mackaness (Ed.) | 1961 | Numbered 127/135 | Signed [USED – SC – Parts 1 & 2]

One of the most unusual primary sources in Van Diemen's Land history — the first-hand account of William Gates, an American from New York who was transported to Hobart as a political prisoner in 1840. Gates was one of the "Canadian Patriots" — a group of Americans and Canadians who invaded Upper Canada in 1838 in sympathy with the Canadian Rebellions of 1837, supporting those seeking independence from British rule.


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Recovering Convict Lives - Port Arthur
An historical archaeology of the Port Arthur Penitentiary in Tasmania.

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Repression, Reform & Resilience
A history of the Cascades Female Factory edited by Alison Alexander.

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Robert Lyall - The King of Westbury

A Tasmanian biography and family history capturing the life and work of Richard Lyall, transported to Van Diemen's Land as a convict, and subsequently owner of the Westbury Inn.


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Sarah Island - used
An account of the convict settlements of Sarah Island, west coast Tasmania from 1822-1832 and 1846-1847.

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Sarah's Story
A convict's tale of strength and resilience for younger readers.

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Shadow Over Tasmania - the truth about the State's convicts

Coultman Smith's history of Tasmania's convicts, first published in 1941 and reprinted many times since. Softcover, 1993, 24th impression, 150 pages, illustrated.


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