Convict Ancestors
UndergraduateTAS-HAA0072025
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- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- No ATAR needed, No prior study
- Duration
- 8 weeks
- Start dates
- 28 Apr 2025
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Convict Ancestors
About this subject
Upon successful completion of this subject, the student should:
- Be familiar with the wide range of historical records available to locate individual convicts transported to the Australian penal colonies and to trace their life course experiences.
- Be able to read, transcribe, and understand key material presented within convict, court, and prison records.
- Be able to situate the experiences of individual convicts within a relevant wider context and convey this information clearly and succinctly.
- Module 1: The Bigger Picture.
- Module 2: Captured, Tried, Incarcerated
- Module 3: Transported to a Penal Colony
- Module 4: Life Under Sentence
- Module 5: Punishment, Protest, and Reformation
- Module 6: Diverse Outcomes
Convict, prison and court records can provide rich, if sometimes disturbing, evidence of the lives led by our ancestors. This subject draws upon the expertise of leading historians of crime, the law, and convict transportation to guide you through the vast archival underbelly of the criminal justice system. You will learn about convicts’ journeys from the time of their trials and transportation, through to living under sentence in the Australian penal colonies, and what likely became of them afterwards. You will be shown how to find and use a wide range of digital records and other relevant research materials to contextualise individual convict’s life stories. This is a subject for those who want to get ‘forensic’ about the past.
- Online Transcription Exercise (10%)
- Four Online Quizzes (40%)
- Convict Case Study (50%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
No entry requirements
Additional requirements
- Other requirements - Weekly online learning materials (e.g. short video lectures, discussions, readings, activities) (approx. 6 hours).
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
Student feedback
8 student respondents between 30 June - 21 July 2025.
100%of students felt the study load was manageable
100%of students felt this subject helped them gain relevant skills
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What to study next?
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
UndergraduateTAS-FAM-DIP
Undergraduate Certificate in Family History
UndergraduateTAS-FHI-CTF
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