In the early nineteenth century over two thousand boys from the streets of Great Britain were transported to the Point Puer Boys Establishment in Van Diemen’s Land. 

For some, transportation to Point Puer became a death sentence, with one in thirty dying there.

Those who survived Point Puer were released into the colony semi-skilled at best, to be confronted by an unwelcoming society anxious to put its convict origins behind it.

In Urchin Convicts, Alistair Scott details some of the hardships experienced both in and out of Point Puer and how some managed to make a go of it in Tasmania. 

Published by https://www.fortysouth.com.au/