AustLit

'Shackled presents the first dedicated study of the 144 women transported to the Moreton Bay penal colony between 1826 and 1839. Like the male convicts sentenced to the isolated northern outpost, these women were mainly recidivists who had committed additional crimes subsequent to their transportation to New South Wales; a handful were colonial-born girls sentenced for local crimes. The marginality of these women in existing scholarship can be explained by the small proportion they comprised of transported women overall. Harrison suggests they have also lacked attention in Queensland histories due to the transitory nature of their presence, with only one of the women ultimately remaining at Moreton Bay rather than returning south.' (Introduction)