Notorious Strumpets Dangerous Girls

"Notorious strumpets tells the story of more than 1,600 convict women who came to Van Diemen's Land before 1830. Their experiences as convicts were infinately diverse. For some their lives where marked with tragedy, others faced brutality; some found a type of redemption, while others spent their lives rebelling against the colonial authority. Many built a new life for themselves in their new land" -- Screen.

Provides a history of prostitution in Australia from before European colonisation, and situates this history within an international context of labour migration and policy formation. This work draws on archival research and interviews to chart the ways in which prostitution contributed to women's economic survival and to colonisation.

This innovative book marks a new way of looking at convict women. It tells their stories in a powerful and evocative way, drawing out broader themes of gender and sexual disorder and race and class dynamics in a colonial context. It considers the convict past in light of contemporary concerns, looking at the cultural meanings of aspects of life in the colony: on ships, in the factories and in orphanages. Using startlingly original research, Joy Damousi considers such varied topics as headshaving as punishment in the prisons and the subversive nature of laughter and play, as well as analysing the language of pollution, purity and abandonment. She also dicusses the nature of sexual relationships, including evidence of lesbianism. The book shows how understanding about sexual and racial difference was crucial for both the maintenance and disturbance of colonial society, and became a focus for cultural anxiety.

This inquiry explores material expressions of gendered power relations through excavation and analysis of the Ross Female Factory, the last remaining prison site to retain archaeological deposits related to the nineteenth century female convicts. It first examines the construction and maintenance of social hierarchies and institutional domination within the cultural landscape of the Ross Factory. Through the elaboration of physical boundaries, intensification of surveillance, increasing specialization of spaces, and meticulous temporal and spatial regulation of inhabitants' movements, it interprets markers of social hierarchy and disciplinary control. This dissertation then considers the reciprocal dynamics of transgression and insubordination through the frequency and distribution of "illicit objects" within wards of the Ross prison.

Exploring the recurrence of cross-dressing and gender inversion within Australian cultural life this book compares and contrasts sustained life-long impersonations where women lived, worked and even married as men, with other forms of cross-dressing such as cross-dressing for stage and the prosecution of men seeking sexual encounters disguised as women.

‘another a piece of the puzzle that is unearthing women’s stories from the past ... a beautifully told history’ – Books+Publishing A joyous look at the history of lesbian and bisexual women in Australia – from convict times, through suffrage and liberation to today Throughout history, women’s relationships have been downgraded and diminished. Instead of lovers, they are documented as particularly close friends; the type that made out, worked, lived, and are buried together. Besties, if you will. She and Her Pretty Friend aims to dispel this myth. It is an exploration of women’s relationships through Australian history, each chapter centring on a specific person, couple, or time period. With a focus on women such as Anne Drysdale, Lesbia Harford, and Cecilia John, She and Her Pretty Friend centres on stories of those who have remained obscured and less spoken of in the historical narrative. Throughout this retelling of Australian history, Scrimshaw explores how colonisation altered ideas of sexuality, how the suffrage movement in Australia created opportunities for queer women, and details her own part in creating queer history. Rather than continuing to deny a queer past, Scrimshaw encourages readers – and other historians – to open themselves to the idea that perhaps some people were more to each other than just ‘roommates’.

In April 1791 the "Queen" sailed from Cobh in Cork with the first cargo of Irish convicts destined for New South Wales. During the next 76 years, Ireland supplied 40,000 of all the convicts transported to Australia. This book looks at what happened to these exiles.