There is an excellent history of the convict women in Van Dieman's Land, written by Phillip Tardiff, titled Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls – Convict Women in Van Dieman's Land 1803 – 1829, published by Angas and Robertson in 1990, and I owe much of the previous paragraph to Phillip's introduction. It's a huge tome full of the records of each woman, categorised by the name of the ship on which the women were transported. Yet, even though the book is really just a list of records, similar to those which have been published about the First Fleet, Tardiff is able to tell us a fascinating story of many of the women who were transported.
Thankfully it would appear that no one in any of the Tasmanian authorities has been bothered by the space these records are taking up. In fact, they have been kept in good condition and so Tardiff was able to do his research with ease and efficiency. The book is absorbing reading with some very interesting stories about the women, before they were transported and especially after their arrival in Van Dieman's Land. For one thing, not all the women who were transported were whores and not every convict woman became a whore. All the same, few if any were innocent of any crime Yes, there were whores and yes, there were the hardened criminals, but there were a lot in between, mostly petty thieves and no doubt one or two innocents. One of my favourite's in the book is Ann Solomon, wife of the celebrated Isaac Solomon, who is known to be the basis of Charles Dickens' character Scrooge in Oliver Twist. Ann Solomon was convicted of receiving stolen goods and was sentenced to 14 years transportation. Apparently, her house in London was full of stolen goods, though she was actually only charged with receiving a stolen watch. No doubt, had that crime not been proven, the court would have had any number of other items to present as evidence for another trial. The interesting thing is that Isaac Solomon was convicted of theft and sentenced to transportation to America. The story isn't clear as to whether he completed his sentence, but at some time he requested to be re-united with his family in Van Dieman's Land, but neither Ann nor the children would have anything to do with him. It is said that Ann Solomon lived out her life in Hobart with her family around her and carried on pretty much as she always had when in London. It is even thought that when she was assigned to work for settlers they soon learnt her ways and fell in with her!
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