MAIDS, MASTERS and MAGISTRATES
Twenty women of the convict ship New Grove:
Maidservants in Van Diemen’s Land

Jeanette E. Hyland

Here are the stories of twenty convict women in Van Diemen’s Land, 1835–1840.
Within a week of their arrival in Hobart Town in March most of the 165 New Grove women and girls were put to work. They became housemaids, laundry maids, cooks, nursemaids, dress makers and servants-of-all-work.  Masters and mistresses were a veritable who’s who of the colony.

These New Grove women and girls trudged distances to isolated farm establishments, Launceston and just round the corner in Hobart Town.
Their convict ‘careers’ are told as recorded in police ‘Black Books’.

The ‘careers’ of twenty convict women are graphic examples of strict colonial discipline in the Assignment period under Lieut.-Governor George Arthur.
Who were the settlers they worked for?  Who were the magistrates who sentenced them to terms in the Female Factories in Launceston and Hobart?  Did they marry and have families?  What is their legacy?

The twenty convict women featured in greater detail are:

The book is well illustrated with black and white and colour images of the time and convict records of various types.