Measured, Marked, and Mothered: Penal Transportation and the Reproductive Health of 19th Century Convict Women.
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2025-06-15
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en
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This thesis examines the reproductive health outcomes of 19th-century convict women transported to Van Diemen’s Land, focusing on how shipboard conditions shaped fertility before and after arrival. Using a dataset of 500 convicts supported by primary sources, the study analyses variables such as age, illness, height, trade, and partnership status. The findings show that the voyage itself played a critical role in reshaping women's reproductive trajectories. Women transported in good health, at younger ages, and with domestic work experience were significantly more likely to marry and bear children after arrival. Conversely, those with recorded reproductive or menstrual ailments had markedly lower fertility outcomes, with menstrual health issues correlating to a significant post-voyage drop in childbirth. This research offers an empirical view into how gender, class, and medicine intersected aboard convict ships, reframing convict women as reproductive instruments of a settler-colonial agenda and exposing the historical roots of systemic medical neglect in women’s healthcare.
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