Cleansing the Colony: Transporting Convicts from New Zealand to Van Diemen’s Land

It’s no secret that Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) was a penal colony for British convicts. Yet surprisingly at least 110 New Zealand prisoners were also transported to the island in the nineteenth century to serve time as convict labourers. In examining the remarkable experiences of unremarkable people, this fascinating book provides insights into the lives of people like William Phelps Pickering, a self-made entrepreneur turned criminal; Margaret Reardon, a potential accomplice to murder and convicted perjurer; and Te Kumete, a Maori warrior transported as a rebel. Their stories, and others like them, reveal how New Zealand’s governing class was intent on cleansing the colony of what it considered a burgeoning criminal underclass. Van Diemen’s Land became a dumping ground for New Zealand’s unwanted. Author Kristyn Harman offers insights into penal servitude in Van Diemen’s Land as revealed through the lived experiences of the men and sole woman transported from New Zealand. Whether Maori men serving time for political infractions, white-collar criminals, labourers, vagrants or the soldiers sent to fight the empire’s wars, each convict’s experiences reveal something about the way in which the British Empire sought to discipline, punish and reform those who trespassed against it.