Convict Transportation to Australia from Dumfries and Galloway (1787-1868) and my Convict ancestors by Donald Cowell.

Between 1787 and 1868 Britain transported tens of thousands of convicts to Australia. Prisoners from all parts of the country, male and female, young and old, were involved in this largescale mass movement of people from one side of the world to the other. Speaker Donald Cowell will explore this remarkable period of history which led to the setting up of the nation of Australia. Using local prison records held in the Stewartry Museum in Kirkcudbright, together with careful research conducted at the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh, he will explain how some prisoners began their journey to Australia from cells in Kirkcudbright prison and other prisons in Dumfries and Galloway. The talk will be illustrated with a number of specific examples of local convicts including how they fared on reaching Australia. Finally, he will include an example from his own Family History Research which has revealed that two of his ancestors were transported to Australia.