From ‘disgrace and pollution’ to ‘pride’: how Australians came to embrace their convict family ties

Convictism “left a stain” on Australia’s penal colonies “which time alone will be able to efface”, according to the South Australian Register newspaper in 1856. Imagine the editor’s astonishment were ...

‘Buckley’s chance’: The runaway convict who survived 32 years in the Australian bush

The Australian phrase “Buckley’s chance” is generally used to mean “no chance at all”. The phrase is thought to have originated with the English convict William Buckley, who fled into the Australian ...