A Short History of Convict Australia is the first ever documentary about Australia's convict past. It visits the locations where convicts lived and worked, talks to historians and descendants of convicts and experiences the legacy of the dramatic, brutal birth of a nation. Between 1788 and 1868, 165,000 British and Irish convicts made the arduous journey to an unknown land we now call Australia. The majority of these convicts transported to Australia were poor and illiterate, victims of the Poor Laws and social conditions in Georgian England and eight out of ten prisoners had been convicted for larceny of some description. When prisoners were condemned to transportation, they knew there was little chance theyd see their homeland, or their loved ones, again. The documentary looks at the dire living conditions of the convicts and the gruesome punishments metered out to those who continued to flout the law. Importantly, it also investigates how the interactions between the new arrivals and the Aboriginal peoples have had a lasting impact on both cultures. Littered with tales of cruelty, bravery and dramatic escapes - including that of Alexander Pearce who, in desperation, resorted to the cannibalism of his fellow escapees - this is the complete story of our earliest and darkest days.
