Pregnant convicts were usually returned to the Government for their confinement and remained with their babies until they were weaned—initially, weaning occurred at six months, but was later extended to nine months in an attempt to reduce the death rate of infants in the nurseries. After weaning, the mother had to serve six months imprisonment in the Crime Class at a female factory as punishment for getting pregnant.
List of Children Born to Female Convicts Under Sentence 1845–1857
(compiled by Peter Gunn and Rebecca Kippen 2006 from Tasmania's birth records as part of the Household and Family Formation in Nineteenth Century Tasmania Dataset, ANU)
The children, if they survived the terrible conditions, remained in the various nurseries until they reached the age of 2 or 3 years when they were removed to the Orphan Schools, unless their mother had gained her freedom in the meantime or could prove she could support the child.
