Unfree Resistance by Convict Workers in the Australian Colonies

We knew that convicts resisted but we didn't know the scale of resistance. Michael Quinlan details his research into convicts' resistance and dissent. 1833 and 1834 were the highest years for strike participation by convict workers across New South Wales, and what we now call Victoria and Tasmania. The only other strike event in the whole nineteenth century that was higher were the strikes of 1890 and 1891, which are singled out as the most important event years in Australian labour history. Now that is an untold story. -- In the 18th and 19th centuries, thousands of democratic reformers, rural labour protestors, Irish freedom fighters and revolutionaries were exiled as political prisoners to Britain’s Australian colonies. As convicts, they resisted exploitation through inventive solidarity in the face of coercion, and in turn changed the political direction of the colonies. The Conviction Politics project traces how these convicts and their ideas helped lay the foundations of egalitarianism, political and social democracy, unions and workers rights and national self-determination in Australia and the UK. Through archival research, data analysis, documentary, animation and song, Conviction Politics is producing an innovative suite of digital history content exploring these stories and their contemporary resonance, including 100 short documentaries. Based at Monash University, Conviction Politics collaborates with researchers from universities in Australia, the UK and Ireland, and is partnered with production company Roar Film and a range of museums, archives, and unions. -- Love history? Subscribe to our channel for more! We'll be uploading new short documentaries every week.