When British authorities deported Irish rebels to their Australian penal colonies, they also exported a tradition of anti-colonial resistance. In March 2025, the severed head of King George V made a ...

When the Tasmanian convicts seized the colonial Cyprus brig and made a daring dash for freedom across the Pacific, they ...

In 1856, when the Victorian government imposed a large tax on each Chinese newcomer, the Chinese ingeniously thwarted it by landing at Robe in South Australia and walking, in large parties, roughly ...

Both strategic and commercial motives guided the British government’s choice of New South Wales as a convict colony.

Tasmania's convict heritage was officially recognized by UNESCO last month, when 11 Australian convict sites, five of which are located in the southernmost state of Tasmania, were added to the UNESCO ...

The “Earl Grey Scheme” saw 4,000 women sent out of overcrowded workhouses in Ireland to build colonies in Australia as ...

New SBS documentary series The Idea of Australia delves into the myths of Australia, exploring the cultural narratives that have shaped our ...

I first read John Hirst (1942-2016) as an undergraduate in the late 1990s as part of a subject on 19th-century Australian history. We discussed convict history and explored contrasting views about its ...

Over 15,500 kilometers separate Ireland from Australia; despite this considerable distance, Australia hosts one of the largest Irish diasporas. In the Australian Census 2021, 9.5% of individuals ...