| Unit name | Convicts, Coercion and Colonialism: The European Settlement of Australia, c.1788-1853 (Level H Special Subject) |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HIST37007 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Reid |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This Special Subject examines the European colonization of Australia in the period between the late eighteenth- and mid nineteenth centuries. Between 1788 and 1853 at least 165,000 convicts were forcibly transported from Britain, Ireland and the British Empire to the Australian penal colonies. Students will be asked to consider a range of debates including: arguments about the social origins of the convicts; the role played by convicts in the settlement of Australia; the nature of the convict system; patterns of convict resistance; the relationships between free settlers, convicts and Australias indigenous or aboriginal peoples and whether early Australia was an authoritarian gulag or a more enlightened project. We will assess the meaning and validity of these kinds of historical arguments by critically examining the history through a range of primary sources and by examining the different perspectives of historians. We will focus geographically upon the eastern Australian colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemens Land (now Tasmania). Sources will be wide-ranging and will include: criminal records; political writings; colonial conduct records; convict narratives; convict ballads; and literary accounts of the penal colonies.
1 x 3-400 word essay (50%) and 1 x 2 hour exam (50%)
