Juvenile Convictsand Death

Emma D. Watkins

VAN DIEMEN’S LAND

(now known as TASMANIA)

<20

14%

21-40

27%

41-60

18%

61-80

36%

>81

5%

AGE OF DEATHS (GROUPED BY 20 YEAR PERIODS)

Male Juvenile Convicts

Given Survival to Age 20

All Deaths

Died After Freedom All Deaths

Juvenile Convicts 59 55 51

English Convicts 59 56 unk

All Tasmanian Males (early

1860s)62 unk

English Males 59 - 60 unk

Comparison Group: Point Puer

Flinders University: John Stephenson

Digital Representation

of Point Puer

Execution

Accident

Disease

Natural Causes /

Old Age

CAUSE OF DEATH

External Mortality

Male juvenile convicts deaths due to external causes, both under and

after sentence, was 20%.

12% for those surviving sentence

Executed

12%

Accident

19%

Disease

25%

Unk

44%

Cause of Death Under Sentence

Executed

Accident

Disease

Unk

Punishment

Male Juvenile Summary

Average Age-of-Death of Female Juvenile Convicts

Died After Freedom All Deaths

60 53

14%

43%

43%

Age-of-Death

<20

41-60

61-80

Age Range

Female Juvenile Convicts

Case Study:Eliza White

CON41-1-10

CON19-1-5

Comparison Group: Female Convicts of the Tasmania (2)

Female Juvenile ConvictsTasmania (2) Female Convicts

(Kavanagh & Snowden)

Deaths given survival to

freedom & twenty

years-of-age

All Deaths

Deaths given survival

to freedom and twenty

years-of-age

All Deaths

60 53 55 52

Cause of Death Female Juvenile Convicts

Old Age 40%

Disease 60%

Female Juveniles Cause of Death

Case Study: Sarah Hodge

RGD36/1/1 no.1076

Comparison Group: Female Convicts of the Tasmania (2)

Cause of DeathTasmania (2) Female Convicts

(Kavanagh & Snowden)

Disease 67%

External Cause 9%

Old Age / Natural Causes 24%

Child Birth 3%

Death Under Sentence?

• 94% of female juvenile convicts survived

to freedom

1 in 18 female juvenile convicts died on

the voyage

1 in 138 of female convicts from the

Tasmania died on the voyage

Case study: Elizabeth Jones

CON40-1-6

Comparison Group: Female Convicts of the Tasmania (2)

Offences & Punishment

Solitary Confinement Cells

Female Juvenile Summary

Van Diemen’s Land

Conclusion

Selective Bibliography• Kavanagh, Joan, and Snowden, Diane (2015), Van Diemen’s Women: A History of Transportation to Tasmania,

(Dublin)

• Kippen, Rebecca and McCalman, Janet (2015) “Mortality under and after sentence of male convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), 1840–1852”, The History of the Family, 20:3, pp.345-365

• Hooper, F.C., (1954), ”The Point Puer experiment; A study of the penal and education al treatment of juvenile transportees in VDL 1830-1850” (Melbourne)

• Horne, Benjamin (1843), “Benjamin Horne’s report on Point Puer Boys’ Prison, to His Excellency Sir John Franklin K.C.H. and K.R. Lieut. Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Point Puer, March 7 1843” Edited extracts from Archives Office of Tasmania document C0280/157/520

• Nunn, Cameron, (2015), “Juveniles as Human Capital: Re-evaluating the Economic Value of Juvenile Male Convict Labour”, Labour History, 108, pp.53-69

• Jackman, Greg, (2001) “Get thee to Church: hard work, Godliness and tourism at Australia’s first rural reformatory”, Australian Historical Archaeology, 19, pp.6-13

• Jackman, Greg, (2009), “From Stain to Saint: Ancestry, Archaeology, and Agendas in Tasmania's Convict Heritage—A View from Port Arthur”, Historical Archaeology, 43:3, pp.101-112

• Jordan, Thos. E., (unk), “Transported to VDL: The boys of the Francis Charlotte (1832) and Lord Godrich (1841)