A convict melodrama is a type of

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

set in Australia during the convict era. They normally revolved around stories of innocent people wrongly accused of a crime who were transported to Australia as convicts. The best known work in this field was the novel ''

For the Term of His Natural Life ''For the Term of His Natural Life'' is a story written by Marcus Clarke and published in '' The Australian Journal'' between 1870 and 1872 (as ''His Natural Life''). It was published as a novel in 1874 and is the best known novelisation of life ...

'', which was adapted into various plays and films. These melodramas were highly popular in novel, theatre and film form in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. They had their origins in novels such as ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

''."Innocent Convicts and Respectable Bushrangers: History and the Nation in Melbourne Melodrama, 1890–1914"
by Wolf, Gabrielle from ''Journal of Australian Studies'', No. 81, accessed 5 May 2013

Select works

Novels

*''

The Broad Arrow ''The Broad Arrow; Being Passages from the History of Maida Gwynnham, a Lifer'' is an 1859 novel published by the English writer Caroline Woolmer Leakey under the pseudonym Oliné Keese. Set in Van Diemen's Land, it was one of the first novel ...

'' by

Caroline Leakey Caroline Woolmer Leakey (8 March 1827 – 12 July 1881) was an English writer, whose poetry and only novel (''The Broad Arrow'', published using the pen name Oliné Keese) were influenced and based on her experience living in Van Diemen's Land (n ...

(writing as Oline Keese) (1859) *'' It Is Never Too Late to Mend'' by

Charles Reade Charles Reade (8 June 1814 – 11 April 1884) was a British novelist and dramatist, best known for '' The Cloister and the Hearth''. Life Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire, to John Reade and Anne Marie Scott-Waring, and had at leas ...

*''

'' by

Marcus Clarke Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (24 April 1846 – 2 August 1881) was an English-born Australian novelist, journalist, poet, editor, librarian, and playwright. He is best known for his 1874 novel ''For the Term of His Natural Life'', about the co ...

(also theatre adaptations)

Films

*''

'' (1908) *''

The Life of Rufus Dawes ''The Life of Rufus Dawes'' is a 1911 Australian silent film based on Alfred Dampier's stage adaptation of the 1874 novel ''For the Term of His Natural Life'' produced by Charles Cozens Spencer. It was also known as ''The Story of Rufus Dawes, ...

'' (1911) *''

The Lady Outlaw ''The Lady Outlaw'' is a 1911 Australian silent film set in Van Diemen's Land during convict days. It was also known as ''By His Excellency's Command'' or ''By His Excellency's Command, a Tale of a Lady Outlaw. It is considered a lost film. P ...

'' (1911) *'' It Is Never Too Late to Mend'' (1911) *''

The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole ''The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole'', generally referred to as ''Margaret Catchpole'', is a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford and starring Lottie Lyell. It is based on the true story of Margaret Catchpole, an advent ...

'' (1911) *''

Transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she wou ...

'' (1913) *'' His Convict Bride'' (1918) *''

'' (1927) *''

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

'' (1953) *''

Eliza Fraser Eliza Anne Fraser (c.1798 – 1858) was a Scottish woman who was aboard a ship that wrecked at an island off the coast of Queensland, Australia, on 22 May 1836, and who claimed she was taken in by the Badtjala (Butchella) people. She later wrote ...

'' (1975)

TV

*'' Against the Wind'' (1978) (mini-series) *''

Sara Dane ''Sara Dane'' is a 1982 Australian television miniseries about a woman transported from England to Australia for a crime she did not commit.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p231 Original novel ...

'' (1983) (mini-series) *''

The Potato Factory ''The Potato Factory'' is a 1995 fictionalised historical novel by Bryce Courtenay, which was made into a four-part miniseries in Australia in 2000. The book is the first in a three-part series, followed by ''Tommo & Hawk'' and ''Solomon's Song ...

'' (2000) (mini-series) *''

The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant ''The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant'' is a 2005 miniseries loosely based on the life of Mary Bryant, an English girl from Cornwall who in this telling was convicted of petty theft (though the historical Mary Bryant was transported for a viole ...

'' (2005) (mini series)

References

{{For the Term of His Natural Life Convictism in Australia