This book examines how convicts played a key role in the development of
capitalism in Australia and how their active resistance shaped both
workplace relations and institutions. It highlights the contribution of
convicts to worker mobilization and political descent, forcing a rethink
of Australia's foundational story. It is a book that will appeal to an
international audience, as well as the many hundreds of thousands of
Australians who can trace descent from convicts. It will enable the
latter to make sense of the experience of their ancestors, equipping
them with the necessary tools to understand convict and court records.
It will also provide a valuable undergraduate and postgraduate teaching
tool and reference for those studying unfree labour and worker history,
social history, colonization and global migration in a digital age.