TY - JOUR PY - 1987// TI - Who were the Female Convicts? JO - Journal of the Australian Population Association A1 - Oxley, D SP - 56 EP - 71 VL - 4 IS - 1 N2 - The convicts exported to Australia have been the subject of enquiry since transportation commenced, and the conclusions reached about the nature of the convict “character” have not always been favourable. One belief that has received particular currency is that the convicts were amongst the worst of the apprehended members of a professional criminal class said to be operating within Great Britain. It is the purpose of this essay to question this belief by investigating the origins and characteristics of a sample of 2,210 female convicts arriving in New South wales from 1825 to 1840 and to establish an alternative picture of who those “damned whores” really were

LA - SN - 0814-5725 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF03029578 ID - ref1 ER -