A couple of previous threads on this subject:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...amp;dirtyBit=1

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34701641

While "The Fatal Shore" is well-written and entertaining, as the descendant of six convicts myself I thought Hughes painted a somewhat lopsided picture of the convict experience, which while hardly enviable wasn't all about hangings and floggings.

First link seems to be about cricket but the second is a wealth of other suggestions for books. Thanks for posting it.

I've heard that criticism of Fatal Shore before but I think it is good to add in there with a lot of other history.

Sorry about that link, LynAK and all - don't know what happened there. Yes, there's been a lot written about the convicts with different emphases. I didn't start thinking about it until I began delving into family history. I concluded that limited attention had been given to the ones like my lot, who seem to have kept their heads down, worked their time, usually got limited freedom after 3 or 4 years amd a ticket-of-leave after 7. Along the way they seem to have picked up enough farming skills to make a modest living after getting their own land grant. I wouldn't underplay the severity of being sent halfway round the world, never to see home and family again, but ironically they achieved something most could never have aspired to back home, becoming landowners. Of course many were incorrigible criminals who re-offended and bore the brunt of the government's displeasure in sometimes gruesome ways.

This will probably be too late for jcasale but some fodorites might be interested in reading the books by Len Beadell - his 'In the Bush' series.

Len Beadell was a surveyor/explorer who was asked by the Australian government in 1947, to locate a site for a rocket testing site - Woomera and among many other things he built the Gunbarrel Highway.

He is an hilarious writer and he had such an amazing life and he met some truly colourful characters along the way. His exploits are well worth reading.

Another non-fiction Australian book is 'A Fortunate Life' by A.B. Facey - I think this is also a good read.