The Female Convicts Research Centre is a not-for-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers.
Female convicts were transported to Tasmania (then called Van Diemen's Land) from 1803, when the colony was founded, to 1853, when transportation to Van Diemen's Land ceased. Some female convicts transported to New South Wales also made their home in Tasmania. This website is dedicated to all of these women, many of them our ancestors.
Latest News!
The next book in our Convict Lives series, Convict Lives at the Launceston Female Factory, published by the Convict Women's Press, was launched at Cascades Female Factory Historic Site on Saturday, 23 February 2013 by the Premier of Tasmania, Lara Giddings.
Books for Sale: Convict Lives at the Ross Female Factory and Convict Lives: Women at Cascades Female Factory (2nd ed.), published by the Convict Women's Press. NOW AVAILABLE as eBooks.
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We have recently become incorporated and so have changed our name to the Female Convicts Research Centre Inc. We were formerly known as the Female Convicts Research Group (Tasmania) and the Female Factory Research Group.
Recent Updates
- Book—The Ambitions of Jane Franklin: Victorian Lady Adventurer by Alison Alexander (8 April 2013)
- Book—Deadly Australian Women, by Kay Saunders (20 March 2013)
- Newspaper Article—The children of mothers in the convict system of Van Diemen's Land, by Lucy Frost (18 March 2013)
- Convict Ships—transcript of the surgeon's journal for Aurora II 1851 by Colleen Arulappu (16 March 2013)
- Launceston Female Factory—numbers of women and children in the factory on 31 December 1842 (12 March 2013)
- Books—Way Back When: People, Places and Events ... Contributed stories about the early days of settlement in northern Tasmania, edited by Anne M Bartlett (9 March 2013)
- Surgeon's Journal—transcript of the General Remarks section of the Surgeon's Journal for the Hydery 1832 (22 February 2013)
- Article—Protecting the Children: Early Years of the King's Orphan Schools in Van Diemen's Land by Lucy Frost (12 February 2013)
- Website Links—link to Tasmanian Lower Court Records on TAHO website (29 January 2013)
- Musters—information about Ticket-of-Leave musters in 1842 (26 January 2013)
- Book Review—Alison Alexander reviews Hannah, a novel by Raymond W Clarke (22 January 2013)
- Book Review—Alison Alexander reviews The Transportation of Women from Kildare to Van Diemen's Land in 1849 by Catherine Fleming (22 January 2013)
- Profiles—story of Jane Huntingdon per Atwick 1838 by Lorraine Roberts (13 January 2013)
- Call for Papers—Autumn 2013 seminar, Resilience?
- Book—Convicts Down Under by Maria Northcote et al, available as print-on-demand or eBook
- You Tube—FCRC members appear in You Tube videos about convicts as part of Founders and Survivors Storylines
- Seminar Papers—papers from our Spring 2012 Seminar are now available (15 November 2012)
Are you a descendant of a Tasmanian female convict? Or are you researching a particular female convict or convicts?
If so, please consider submitting your details and those of your convict(s) to our
Female Convicts in Van Diemen's Land database
using the Submit a Convict form.
Please note that the Female Convicts in Van Diemen's Land database was formerly known as the Female Family Founders Database.
Are you interested in female convicts generally?
Please consider becoming a member by completing the Register as a Member form. Membership is free.
As a member, you will have access to the members area of this website, which provides access to our Female Convicts in Van Diemen's Land database, and receive emails about our activities and research.
We welcome members from interstate and overseas, as well as those from Tasmania.