© Dr Margaret Dillon 2008
Australian Colonial History
Australian Colonial History
Dr Margaret (Meg) Dillon
Dr Meg Dillon graduated in 2008 and is a social historian who lives in
Benalla (Victoria, Australia) and has a strong interest in convict and
regional studies, especially the exploration of convicts as the first colonial
working class in the Australian colonies. Meg has recently developed
interests in early twentieth century Australian artists.
Her original research focused on Tasmania and the groups of convict
workers employed in the Midlands of Tasmania, a rich farming district
populated by middle class settlers with the capital to establish farms of
several thousand acres. Her thesis is available on this website as well as on
the Library of the University of Tasmania website: Convict Labour and
Colonial Society in the Campbell Town Police District: 1820 to 1839.
Transported Women
Meg has edited The Report Enquiring into the Present State of Female
Convict Discipline in this Colony (Van Diemen's Land}: December 1842
which is only available in manuscript form from the Archives of Tasmania.
This report was never printed and made available to the public, but now it
provides detailed information for historians about women's behaviour
during periods of incarceration as well as the anxieties prison authorities
experienced about their inability to reform the general female prison
population and break the will of the persistent resisters. You can soon
access her edited version of the manuscript and associated papers on this
web site. Police District: 1820 to 1839
Australian Print Makers
Meg has recently developed interests in early twentieth century Australian
artists.
Convict Data
Meg’s thesis collected data from the Charges Books of the Campbell Town
Police District and other sources and aggregated into a database. We are
now experimenting with giving access to some of this data via AirTable, a
cloud-based database
History of Western Civilisation
History helps us understand some complex issues, even though it can’t
and doesn’t predict future outcomes. Today our Western Civilization is
strongly attacked as corrupt, militaristic and nihilistic. But is it? How did it
evolve and what aspects of should we embrace and be proud of?
These history sessions will look at the current situation, then briefly
explore those past cultures that have created our complex Western world.
Commisariat on Maria Island
australian colonial history
meg dillon