HUMN 3026 Convicts and Settlers - Australian History 1788 - 1840

This is an archived copy of the 2021-2022 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit https://hbook.westernsydney.edu.au.

Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 101799

Coordinator Carol Liston Opens in new window

Description In little more than half a century Australia was transformed from a convict prison to a parliamentary democracy. The people who made this transformation were the ex-convicts, free settlers and first generation of colonial born children. The survival of data about ordinary people between 1788-1840 makes it possible to investigate families, communities, employment, law and order and the daily experiences of urban and frontier life in these formative years. Using family history resources on the internet and sophisticated digital archives of historical records in Australia and overseas, this unit will challenge assumptions about "who do you think we were?"

School Humanities & Comm Arts

Discipline Studies in Human Society, Not Elsewhere Classified.

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 4 10cp

Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 3 subject

Restrictions Successful completion of 60 credit points of study in currently enrolled program.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
  1. Understand social structures within an historical context
  2. Create biographies
  3. Describe a variety of historical resources found with on-line searches
  4. Identify information in historical source documents
  5. Describe the social groups within the colonial population
  6. Evaluate conflicting interpretations derived from similar historical evidence

Subject Content

- Background of social structure of 18th century England, Scotland & Ireland
- Convicts, Soldiers, Officials - social backgrounds, criminal backgrounds
- non-European Convicts and Soldiers - African, Indian and Mediterranean connections
- Marriage, bigamy, legitimacy and inheritance in colonial Australia
- colonial Born children - education, employment, family Structures
- what became of The convicts? - The economic and social Contributions of emancipists in The Sydney region
- Immigrant settlers - families of Convicts, adventurers and entrepreneurs, Officials of empire
- Looking out - links to Asia, India and The Pacific

Teaching Periods

Structures that include subject