Creating Women's Identity in Australian Civilization

Resumen

AUSTRALIA UNDERWENT A DISTINCTIVE PROCESS of colonization in the nineteenth century: it was the exclusive home, prior to that date, of one of the most ancient races on earth, the Aborigines, but, when Captain Cook 'discovered the eastern coastline of the continent, it also became the prison for many an English social outcast shipped out against his will. First soldiers and convicts, then adventurers, journalists, traders and politicians roamed the 'new found land and mapped and named it. After a few decades of such activities and as convicts 'redeemed their sentences through hard work and good behaviour, the need for women became an all too obvious problem; this was resolved by shipping out female outlaws as well, thus creating a double stigma for Australian women-to-be: not only were their foremothers thieves and offenders but also sexual merchandise. Furthermore, as women criminals were scarce, since European society offered them little scope even for social sins, the majority of the female "outlaws" were minor offenders. Sometimes they were shipped, uprooted and 'sold out' to Australia for no more than stealing a hen. (...).