The Project:
In July 1789, two hundred and thirty-seven women convict left England for Sydney Cove Australia on board a ship called the Lady Juliana. The destination of this ship was a place called Sydney Cove, where the first fleet that sailed from England for Australia had already established a colony. When the Lady Juliana arrived in June of 1790, they were confronted with a fledgling settlement that was in desperate need of tools and seeds, not women. Some of the women were prostitutes in England before being sent to New South Wales and some were domestic workers who stole from their employers or shoplifted from stores. After their arrival, some women were chosen as wives and some had to turn to prostitution in order to survive. A few of the women would stay in Sydney Cove and others were carried on to Norfolk Island, an even smaller…show more content… There is no doubt that the women who were sent to Australia in this time period were in a very vulnerable position. In my research, I will be looking at convict women in Australia (1788-1852) focusing in on the people who were aboard the Lady Juliana, both before and after they arrived in Australia to better understand the role of gender by way of female exploitation in colonial Australia. My research will expand on the notions of gender in colonial Australia by focusing in on the passengers of the Lady Juliana, both the convict women and the men who they were in the care of on their journey. By backing up a bit and exploring patterns of the convictions we can better understand the kinds of women who were sentenced to transportation to Australia. By understanding where these women came from, there can be a better understanding of their treatment on the convict ship, in the colonies, and the movement in and between female factories and other
