Conclusion

TL;DRAbstract

Each successive generation of historians has discarded, reformulated or asked new questions of the convict past in light of contemporary concerns. What preoccupies one generation of historians will inevitably be redefined by another. In this book I have suggested some new directions for broadening our understanding of convict history and of the experiences of convict women in particular. I have attempted to move the discussion beyond whether convict women were criminals or skilled labourers; whether they were whores or not; whether most of them became respectable citizens or not; whether they were victims of patriarchy or not; whether the conditions they endured were better in Australia or in Britain; and whether the prisons were a hell or a haven for female inmates. In order to shift the discussion away from these arguments we need to ask different questions of Australia's convict period. But if the task ahead is to be a profound revision, how can this revision be imagined?

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