Speakers: Professor Janet McCalman & Dr James Bradley

University of Melbourne

"I am not aware that the tone of Society has yet assumed any peculiar character; but with such habits & without intellectual pursuits, it can hardly fail to deteriorate."

How wrong he was soon proved to be. Australia, despite its convict beginnings, was one of the most law-abiding societies in the world by the end of the nineteenth century. Convict men and women became founders of great families that have served this country in every walk of life.

Led by Janet McCalman, Founders and Survivors will become one of the world’s great historical studies of immigration, forced labour and settlement. It will follow convict founders and their descendants over three generations and build a unique portrait of modern Australian society in the making.

Early in 1836 a young Charles Darwin spent two months in Australia as part of his voyage around the world on the Beagle. He saw little hope for the Australian people and their New World:

Professor Janet McCalman is both a Professor at the Centre for Health & Society and in the History and Philosophy program in the Faculty of Arts.