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Vandemonians: The Repressed History of Colonial Victoria
From award-winning author and historian Janet McCalman, the engrossing tale of Tasmanian convict settlers in colonial Victoria
It was meant to be 'Victoria the Free', uncontaminated by the Convict Stain. Yet they came in their tens of thousands as soon as they were cut free or able to bolt. More than half of all those transported to Van Diemen's Land as convicts would one day settle or spend time in Victoria. There they were demonised as Vandemonians Some could never go straight; a few were the luckiest of gold diggers; a handful founded families with distinguished descendants. Most slipped into obscurity. Burdened by their pasts and their shame, their lives as free men and women, even within their own families, were forever shrouded in secrets and lies. Only now are we discovering their stories and Victoria's place in the nation's convict history. As Janet McCalman examines this transported population of men, women and children from the cradle to the grave, we can see them not just as…
It was meant to be 'Victoria the Free', uncontaminated by the Convict Stain. Yet they came in their tens of thousands as soon as they were cut free or able to bolt. More than half of all those transported to Van Diemen's Land as convicts would one day settle or spend time in Victoria. There they were demonised as Vandemonians Some could never go straight; a few were the luckiest of gold diggers; a handful founded families with distinguished descendants. Most slipped into obscurity. Burdened by their pasts and their shame, their lives as free men and women, even within their own families, were forever shrouded in secrets and lies. Only now are we discovering their stories and Victoria's place in the nation's convict history. As Janet McCalman examines this transported population of men, women and children from the cradle to the grave, we can see them not just as…
352 pages, Paperback
First published September 28, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 3, 2021
Janet McCalman lead a team of volunteers and a handful of colleagues to collect and then analyse some 25,000 convict records who were sent to Tasmania during the first half on the 1800s. The data collected included the lives of these people before, during and after their sentence.
In this book the author provides the outcomes of this study which is unique in the richness of the data collected and the academic findings it produced. The data is melded with stories of the convicts, social changes occurring at the time and McCalman's deep understanding in Victoria's social history. The product is a book that is informative and rich in the knowledge it provides into the people who were transported to Tasmania and their subsequent impact on society. A stunning achievement.
In this book the author provides the outcomes of this study which is unique in the richness of the data collected and the academic findings it produced. The data is melded with stories of the convicts, social changes occurring at the time and McCalman's deep understanding in Victoria's social history. The product is a book that is informative and rich in the knowledge it provides into the people who were transported to Tasmania and their subsequent impact on society. A stunning achievement.
December 14, 2021
Vandemonians, the Repressed History of Colonial Victoria makes a perfect companion for James Boyce's 1835, the Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia. (Follow the link to my review, especially if you don't know much about the settlement of Australia).
Written in an approachable style that is easy to read and digest, Janet McCalman's book focusses on what became of the Vandemonians, the much despised emancipated convicts from Tasmania who populated Victoria once settlement had reached its limits in Tasmania. But as she explains, the problem of researching this group is that they had every reason to hide their personal histories. They became invisible, just as they are in paintings of the era, which often depict Aborigines, who mostly weren't working on the farms of early settlers, and not the convicts, who were.
Her method, therefore, was to utilise a community genealogy project with volunteers from all over Australia and overseas, to use what limited documentary evidence there is for individuals, and to interrogate large scale statistical patterns for evidence of lineage. How well families survive and produce descendants, she says, is a test of society.
(This is doubly interesting because in our more individualistic, and I would argue more pessimistic age, many people choose not to partner and not to have children and that has nothing to do with individual shortcomings or a lack of societal support. But in the era of women's economic dependence on men and the absence of effective birth control, partnering and having children was, for many, an inescapable norm. So the absence of a lineage dating from that earlier era is a potent indicator of societal failure to support its underclasses.)
McCalman demolishes many of the myths Australians have about themselves. There is a widespread narrative about convict ancestors who stole 'just a hanky' or 'bread to feed the starving children' but the reality is that very many of the convicts who were transported came from families of career criminals.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/12/14/v...
Written in an approachable style that is easy to read and digest, Janet McCalman's book focusses on what became of the Vandemonians, the much despised emancipated convicts from Tasmania who populated Victoria once settlement had reached its limits in Tasmania. But as she explains, the problem of researching this group is that they had every reason to hide their personal histories. They became invisible, just as they are in paintings of the era, which often depict Aborigines, who mostly weren't working on the farms of early settlers, and not the convicts, who were.
Her method, therefore, was to utilise a community genealogy project with volunteers from all over Australia and overseas, to use what limited documentary evidence there is for individuals, and to interrogate large scale statistical patterns for evidence of lineage. How well families survive and produce descendants, she says, is a test of society.
Settling meant finding a place to live, an income and perhaps a family. Indeed, we can measure the success or failure of Australia's convict pioneers by the basic milestones of establishing and maintaining a family, which then produces a lineage. Creating a lineage means more than simply reproduction. It necessitates a household that can nourish and protect children so that in their turn they can produce their own offspring. And that is a test of the society and the economy in which they live, as much as it is a test of the individual. Happy families flourish on security; unhappy families too often are precarious. Thus, while happy families, as Tolstoy said, are alike and in that sense unremarkable, unhappy families are troubled each in their own way, or at least are more likely to leave traces in the historical record of their offences against society, their problems and their griefs. On the other hand, they are less likely to leave descendants, either because they never partnered to have children or because their children perished. They are the losers of history, which is written by the winners, the descendants of the founders who became survivors. (p.186)
(This is doubly interesting because in our more individualistic, and I would argue more pessimistic age, many people choose not to partner and not to have children and that has nothing to do with individual shortcomings or a lack of societal support. But in the era of women's economic dependence on men and the absence of effective birth control, partnering and having children was, for many, an inescapable norm. So the absence of a lineage dating from that earlier era is a potent indicator of societal failure to support its underclasses.)
McCalman demolishes many of the myths Australians have about themselves. There is a widespread narrative about convict ancestors who stole 'just a hanky' or 'bread to feed the starving children' but the reality is that very many of the convicts who were transported came from families of career criminals.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/12/14/v...
May 22, 2023
An often shocking study of criminality in colonial Victoria.
The basis for this fascinating book is prosopography. DON'T STOP READING!
Essentially it is about collating group biographies from diverse sources and sightings. You decide upon a defined universe be it the Australian Cricket team 1920-30 or the French National convention 1792-93.
The inmates of the Australian convict colonies were especially recorded. We have their mother's and father's, place of birth and criminal record. There are often criminal proceedings recording their pleas.
Once they were here they were meticulously recorded in terms of age, height, appearance, distinguishing marks etc. Those that wanted to marry while still convicts had to have leave from the government to do so. All of their transgressions in Australia were recorded by the police courts. This coupled with the now vast accumulation of digitised newspapers and journals (thank you Trove) gives an insight into individual lives.
Janet McCalman's focus is on the ex-convicts of Van Diemens Land's impact on the "free" colony of Victoria. They had the reputation for being the worst of the worst. Not all of those transported stole a loaf of bread. Those from large towns, especially port towns, ran in violent organised gangs.
A society that no longer had room or patience for the poor spat them out with gusto. McCalman makes the point there was once room for the rural poor in pre-enclosure Britain. One could graze a cow and have a small plot and struggle-by with some poaching here and there. The just finished Napoleonic wars let loose thousands of soldiers and this coupled with a depression AND a collapse of the rudimentary Parish Poor funds AND the economic destruction of artisan workers such as weavers lead to petty and often violent thieving, prostitution as well as sexual crimes against women and children. Britain was still in the middle of its 100 year alcohol binge which much like meth today made everything worse.
. The book gives the stories of individuals who had many run-ins with the state and therefore left rich dramatic pickings for the historian. The worst of the worst did not survive. Some of these people ended up in benevolent asylums at the end of their lives. Many died in ditches, laneways or in the bush. One especially amazing figure was that only 20% of convicts transported after 1830 have lineal descendants. They were either too syphilitic or too crazed by tainted colonial booze to form families.
Once in the booming Gold economy of Victoria the ones who made respectable lives either by luck or fortitude hid their Van-Diemonian past. The others who could not shake old habits had a last hurrah of about 10 years of criminality on the semi-lawless diggings.
McCalman makes the point that it was only the postwar boom in Australia that broke this degrading cycle of poverty.
Like Robert Hughes she suggests that the convict society of the 19th century left a particular mark in Tasmania ( Van Diemans Land) because it missed out on the Gold Rushes and industry that followed.
The basis for this fascinating book is prosopography. DON'T STOP READING!
Essentially it is about collating group biographies from diverse sources and sightings. You decide upon a defined universe be it the Australian Cricket team 1920-30 or the French National convention 1792-93.
The inmates of the Australian convict colonies were especially recorded. We have their mother's and father's, place of birth and criminal record. There are often criminal proceedings recording their pleas.
Once they were here they were meticulously recorded in terms of age, height, appearance, distinguishing marks etc. Those that wanted to marry while still convicts had to have leave from the government to do so. All of their transgressions in Australia were recorded by the police courts. This coupled with the now vast accumulation of digitised newspapers and journals (thank you Trove) gives an insight into individual lives.
Janet McCalman's focus is on the ex-convicts of Van Diemens Land's impact on the "free" colony of Victoria. They had the reputation for being the worst of the worst. Not all of those transported stole a loaf of bread. Those from large towns, especially port towns, ran in violent organised gangs.
A society that no longer had room or patience for the poor spat them out with gusto. McCalman makes the point there was once room for the rural poor in pre-enclosure Britain. One could graze a cow and have a small plot and struggle-by with some poaching here and there. The just finished Napoleonic wars let loose thousands of soldiers and this coupled with a depression AND a collapse of the rudimentary Parish Poor funds AND the economic destruction of artisan workers such as weavers lead to petty and often violent thieving, prostitution as well as sexual crimes against women and children. Britain was still in the middle of its 100 year alcohol binge which much like meth today made everything worse.
. The book gives the stories of individuals who had many run-ins with the state and therefore left rich dramatic pickings for the historian. The worst of the worst did not survive. Some of these people ended up in benevolent asylums at the end of their lives. Many died in ditches, laneways or in the bush. One especially amazing figure was that only 20% of convicts transported after 1830 have lineal descendants. They were either too syphilitic or too crazed by tainted colonial booze to form families.
Once in the booming Gold economy of Victoria the ones who made respectable lives either by luck or fortitude hid their Van-Diemonian past. The others who could not shake old habits had a last hurrah of about 10 years of criminality on the semi-lawless diggings.
McCalman makes the point that it was only the postwar boom in Australia that broke this degrading cycle of poverty.
Like Robert Hughes she suggests that the convict society of the 19th century left a particular mark in Tasmania ( Van Diemans Land) because it missed out on the Gold Rushes and industry that followed.
April 11, 2022
A fascinating longitudinal study of the freed convicts who went from Tasmania to Victoria and were collectively called, and demonised as, Vandemonians. I was particularly interested in this well written and fairly accessible book as these settlers, like so many others in history, are often invisible, although in this case sometimes by choice. I was also interested as this is a study of a large data set which utilises crowd sourcing i.e. community genealogy groups. The author combines the data set with individual stories to create an informative read which should appeal to a wide range of people.
December 18, 2021
A really interesting history of the movement of ex convicts from Van Diemen’s Land to Victoria in the nineteenth century. It includes fascinating life stories, following some people for much of their life. As well it explains the reasons for being convicts, and what helped or hindered them in post convict life. Both men and women get a full focus. It’s concise, clear classic history, I couldn’t put it down.
January 13, 2022
Reading this book, I realised how fortunate our family branch were to have been successful emigrants from Van Diemen’s Land into Victoria. Was it because they were amongst the earliest to move? So many fell foul of the demon drink, or of families which imploded with violence, abuse or various recessions. And yet, it explains so much. Only one daughter of our family succeeded in rearing a large family of her own and of avoiding prison or destitution. Luckily it was the one we call Granny Jane. Did she succeed because she married a Scottish Presbyterian settler? There were certainly larrikins amongst her siblings who ended in prison, bankrupt and itinerant once the gold dried up.
This book is not only a very readable tale of a variety of characters Dickens would have been proud to write about. It also explains so much about society from the slums of Britain to the struggle to make a living in a new land where so much is stacked against you. The impossible situation so many women found themselves in where it was preferable to escape from an abusive family to the uncaring streets and a lifetime in and out of prison which offered some respite from destitution.
It also touches on the impact of this onslaught of new colonists on the aboriginal peoples of Victoria. Again, I have evidence of this in our family story.
Painstakingly researched from the records of Tasmanian Convicts. I am proud to have been involved in some very small way in this project which has resulted in a book which adds significantly to the historical record.
This book is not only a very readable tale of a variety of characters Dickens would have been proud to write about. It also explains so much about society from the slums of Britain to the struggle to make a living in a new land where so much is stacked against you. The impossible situation so many women found themselves in where it was preferable to escape from an abusive family to the uncaring streets and a lifetime in and out of prison which offered some respite from destitution.
It also touches on the impact of this onslaught of new colonists on the aboriginal peoples of Victoria. Again, I have evidence of this in our family story.
Painstakingly researched from the records of Tasmanian Convicts. I am proud to have been involved in some very small way in this project which has resulted in a book which adds significantly to the historical record.
January 27, 2022
I did not find this an easy book to read. I had to read it in small chunks, while also reading other books. That said, I am glad I persisted. Having lived in Melbourne all my life, I have always wondered what the convict contribution to Victoria was. This extraordinarily well-researched book dedicates itself to answering that question.
The book deals as much as possible with generalities and statistics, but uses individual cases to make specific points. Certain characters we gradually come to know quite well. I was particularly interested to read the extent to which the former convicts contributed to the suburb of Collingwood.
Not surprisingly, one of the most common reasons for an individual to be transported to Australia was loss of a parent in early life. Fractured families led to criminality.
In spite of the horrors of the convict system, McCalman suggests that - at least in some respects - the rehabilitation of young prisoners was managed better then than it is now. I found this very shocking, but understood her reason for saying so. She makes the point that young offenders these days are taken away from their relationships and work, and from society in general. This no doubt robs their lives of much of its meaning.
As I said before, this is not an easy read, but it is a most worthwhile one. More power to McCalman and her colleagues!
The book deals as much as possible with generalities and statistics, but uses individual cases to make specific points. Certain characters we gradually come to know quite well. I was particularly interested to read the extent to which the former convicts contributed to the suburb of Collingwood.
Not surprisingly, one of the most common reasons for an individual to be transported to Australia was loss of a parent in early life. Fractured families led to criminality.
In spite of the horrors of the convict system, McCalman suggests that - at least in some respects - the rehabilitation of young prisoners was managed better then than it is now. I found this very shocking, but understood her reason for saying so. She makes the point that young offenders these days are taken away from their relationships and work, and from society in general. This no doubt robs their lives of much of its meaning.
As I said before, this is not an easy read, but it is a most worthwhile one. More power to McCalman and her colleagues!
January 22, 2023
A mention online led me to this book which fortunately my local library had a copy of. Well researched this turned out to be a fascinating read. The State of Victoria may not have been established as a penal colony, however the arrival into it by the demonised Vandemoians certainly saw to its growth, development, and prosperity. The stories of these people give an insight into how ‘Victoria the Free’ did in fact have a ‘convict stain’. It also shines a light onto the impact arrivals such as these (and those of the free settlers) had on the established indigenous people.
June 16, 2025
Just random stories, not really a history. Grammar was an absolute mess and some shit in there that boggled in a book published in this day and age — we do NOT think someone “may have been a gypsy” what the hell
June 13, 2023
A good history of the people and times.
July 25, 2023
Three and a half stars. A little dry, but a very good and informative social history about the make up of Victoria, and all the more interesting as it was about where I live.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews