Are you interested in convicts and how they helped to create ‘the Australian way of life’ in the early penal settlement? Come along and hear what author and freelance historian, Babette Smith has to say on this topic.
Babette will be the guest speaker at the next Hawkesbury Family History Group meeting on Wednesday, 13 April 2016 and will be discussing the penal conditions in the colony and how a distinct working class was established in the settlement. Her research focusses on Irish convicts and how they found unexpected power in the colony and helped to build a particular lifestyle.
Babette Smith specialises in Australian colonial history, particularly about convicts and transportation. Her book about the female convicts ‘A Cargo of Women’ changed the perspective on convict women and her recent book, ‘Luck of the Irish’ is an intriguing portrait of colonial life in the mid-nineteenth century that reveals how the Irish helped lay the foundations of the Australia we know today.
Anyone interested is encouraged to attend this free event. The meeting starts at 10am and bookings are not required. Refreshments are available after the meeting. The Library is located at 300 George Street, Windsor.
