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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] See details
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

Books covering Tasmania's convict era – transportation, penal settlements such as Port Arthur and Sarah Island, convict ships and records, and the individual stories of convicts sent to Van Diemen's Land. A well-used section for family historians researching convict ancestors, as well as general readers interested in this defining chapter of Tasmania's past.

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Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls - Convict Women in Van Diemen's Land 1803-1829 by Phillip Tardif See details
Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls - Convict Women in Van Diemen's Land 1803-1829 by Phillip Tardif

Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls, published by Angus & Robertson in 1990, contains individual biographies of each of the 1,675 women transported to Van Diemen's Land as convicts between 1803 and 1829.

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Patchwork Prisoners - the Rajah Quilt See details
Patchwork Prisoners - the Rajah Quilt
Patchwork Prisoners is a study of the 180 female convicts who were transported on the convict ship Rajah from England to Hobart, Van Diemen's Land in 1841, and the Rajah Quilt they made during their voyage.
Our price: AUD 110.00
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Point Puer... the boys' prison of Port Arthur See details
Point Puer... the boys' prison of Port Arthur
A history of Point Puer at Port Arthur convict settlement, Van Diemen's Land - the first exclusive boys prison in the British Empire.
Our price: AUD 12.95
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Port Arthur 1830-1877 See details
Port Arthur 1830-1877
A pocket history of the convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania / Van Diemen's Land.
Our price: AUD 7.50
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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] See details
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 | 1981 HCDJ [USED] See details
Port Arthur – A Place of Misery | Maggie Weidenhofer | 1981 HCDJ [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] See details
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.

Our price: AUD 75.00
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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] See details
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.

Our price: AUD 125.00
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Recovering Convict Lives - Port Arthur See details
Recovering Convict Lives - Port Arthur
An historical archaeology of the Port Arthur Penitentiary in Tasmania.
Our price: AUD 39.99
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Repression, Reform & Resilience See details
Repression, Reform & Resilience
A history of the Cascades Female Factory edited by Alison Alexander.
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