Australians went from hiding convict ancestry to celebrating it
About 162,000 convicts transported to Australia between 1788 and 1868 were once seen as national disgrace; today Australians proudly claim convict heritage.
In 1856 the South Australian Register called convictism a stain that time alone could erase. Many former convicts changed their names; Van Diemen's Land even renamed itself Tasmania to shed the convict label.
By the 1880s newspapers scorned descendants of convicts and emancipists. The 1960s brought a shift in how historians studied everyday people's lives.
Australia's 1988 bicentenary proved pivotal: convicts were reframed from rogues to nation-builders. UNESCO World Heritage status for key convict sites in 2010 cemented this transformation.
Today, digitised records and DNA testing have made family history accessible, and more and more Australians are discovering and embracing their convict roots.
- 162,000 between 1788 and 1868
- Convicts transported
- Van Diemen's Land became Tasmania
- Colony renamed
- 1988 bicentenary
- Pivotal year
- 2010
- UNESCO status
Why it mattersThe shift from shame to pride shows how national identity changes over generations, and how access to records changes who we think we are.
AustraliaThis reflects changing attitudes across Australia about what it means to be Australian, from colonial embarrassment to embracing the convict era as part of the nation's foundation story.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 2 h ago
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