From the crowded tenements of Edinburgh to the Female Factory in the shadow of Mt Wellington, dozens of Scottish women convicts were exiled to Van Diemen's Land with their young children.
In the early 19th century, women of little means struggling to feed and clothe themselves, were left with few options other than theft and prostitution. The Scottish authorities, anxious to quell petty crime, imposed harsh sentences, consigning these women – and often their children too – for transportation to the Australian colonies.
Lucy Frost tells the stories of a boatload of women and their children who arrived in Hobart in 1838, bringing to life a long forgotten but fascinating group of convicts.

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"Her superb research and sympathetic reconstructions of 19th century Scotland and Australia bring to life a long-forgotten but fascinating group of women." – Sian Rees, author of The Floating Brothel