The videocast and complete written transcript of the 2012 Don Grant Lecture ‘Vandemonians in Victoria’ given by Professor Janet McCalman at the annual Family History Feast event held on 30 July has just been published on the State Library of Victoria website.
In her Lecture Professor McCalman of the Founders & Survivors project reconstructs the fate of the men, women and children who emigrated to Victoria after serving time as convicts in Van Diemen’s Land.
She summarises
“…The cumulative power of the family stories of all of us offers us a new perspective on history-making from the ground up. Founders and Survivors will be a database not just of the bare bones of lives lived under the gaze of bureaucrats but also of the flesh added by research from descendants and researchers. We can discover the both the broad perspective that statistical analysis provides and the human experience that delivers depth and feeling…”
How many became founders? How many were survivors? Find out more in this this fascinating videocast.