“When a fleet of eleven ships, laden with around a thousand convicted British prisoners, weighed anchor in New South Wales in January 1788, the foundations were laid for what we know today as the nation of Australia. Over the next few decades tens of thousands of convicts added to their number. Almost all lived the remainder of their lives in Australia. They married, produced children, and generally prospered.”
Dr. Wayne Johnson
“Most convicts transported to Australia were convicted of petty theft, the majority of which were considered to be minor crimes by today’s standards. Stolen items varied from shoes to fabrics, coats to pocket watches, purses to sheep, and jugs to yarn. More than 160,000 people, an overwhelming number, were transported ‘beyond the seas’ between 1787 and 1868 to serve their sentences, which were usually seven or 14 years.
As a photographer, what interested me was the impact that the theft of objects—most of a relatively small value—could have on people’s lives. As a result, the photographs depict the descendants with a representation of the item that their ancestors had stolen; with the items providing a link between the ancestor and descendant.”
Mine Konakci