Convict SIG (Registration)

The Convict Special Interest Group meeting is a hybrid meeting for members with an interest in researching their convict ancestors. Members should purchase a ticket to attend this event either via Zoom or in-person. After registering to attend via Zoom you will receive an email with a link to the meeting.

The topic for this meeting is:

 "Irish Convict Marriages"

For this meeting we will welcome researcher Dr Damian Gleeson, to talk about marriage of Irish Convicts in Australia.

In this presentation, Damian will draw on themes from his book Irish Bigamy: New Insights into Colonial New South Wales (Colonial Press, Goulburn, 2025) and also provide a glimpse into his upcoming work John Joseph Therry: Irish landlord, merchant and priest in the Australian colonies  (Colonial Press, Goulburn, July 2026).

Drawing on a large number of unpublished letters from convicts and their families, the findings in these works contradict dominant stereotypes of convicts in the penal colony of New South Wales. In particular, Damian will examine relationships and bigamous marriages amongst Irish convicts (of all religious affiliations) and the clandestine and often illegal behaviour of Cork-born Fr John Joseph Therry, who was titled ‘Parish Priest of New South Wales’ in the 1820s.

For more information about the activities of the Convict SIG, including details of future events, click here 

Family History ACT values the intellectual property of our speakers and the privacy of all meeting participants.
To protect these rights, the use of third-party AI note-taking or transcription tools,  including but not limited to Otter.ai, Read.ai, Fireflies, or similar services is not permitted during FHACT meetings, webinars or events.