Shortcuts
Please wait while page loads.

Research Library catalogue

Back to Research Library home


PageMenu- Main Menu-
Page content

Catalogue Display

Convict orphans / Lucy Frost.

Convict orphans / Lucy Frost.
Catalogue Information
Field name Details
ISBN 9781761067686
1761067680
Author Frost, Lucy, 1941- (author)
Title Convict orphans / Lucy Frost.
Cover title Convict orphans : the heartbreaking stories of the colony's forgotten children, and those who succeeded against all odds
Publisher and/or associated date/s Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2023.
Description 296 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary All families have their secrets, and a convict ancestor or an illegitimate birth were shames that families once buried deep. Among the best-hidden stories in Australia's history are those of the convict orphans. Agnes arrived on a convict transport aged four and was abandoned when her mother needed to escape an abusive husband. After their mother died and their father deserted them, Maria and Eliza Marriner were taken into state care too. Cut off from family, behind the walls of the imposing sandstone buildings of the Queen's Orphan Schools, they were among hundreds of young children entrusted to the much feared Matron Smyth. At the age of twelve, the children left the orphanage to work without pay on farms and in homes-some of them places where no child should ever have been sent. Although colonists called it white slavery, the authorities turned a blind eye to what was really happening. These are stories of abuse and abandonment, and also of great generosity and kindness from individuals who rescued and supported children. Some children managed to build happy lives for themselves, but many could not navigate a system stacked against them. There are disturbing parallels between the Queen's Orphan Schools in Hobart and other children's institutions in Australia into the 21st century.
Subjects Orphans -- Australia
Abandoned children -- Australia
Children of criminals -- Australia
Child slaves -- Australia
Genealogy
Australia -- Social conditions -- History
Call number 2023.048
Catalogue Information 100083065 Beginning of record . Catalogue Information 100083065 Top of page .
Item Information
Barcode Shelf Location Collection Volume Ref. Status Due Date
A00963203 2023.048
General Collection   . Available to Museum Staff .  
. Catalogue Record 100083065 ItemInfo Beginning of record . Catalogue Record 100083065 ItemInfo Top of page .