Reforming Colonial Labour: An archaeological analysis of young convicts and their labour at Point Puer

Abstract

Through archaeological and historical investigation of Point Puer in lutruwita/Tasmania (formerly Van Diemen's Land), this talk examines how colonial authorities attempted to transform juvenile convicts into productive workers. Operating between 1834 and 1849, Point Puer served as a specialised institution that removed young transportees from the broader convict labour system for reform and trade training. While contemporary accounts emphasised humanitarian concerns, material evidence from this carceral landscape reveals that economic imperatives drove institutional practices. The archaeological record demonstrates how moral instruction, education, religious teaching and vocational training converged in service of a single goal: creating self-sufficient labourers for the colonial project. Drawing on theories of liminality, this analysis explores the spatial and material dimensions of how young convicts were separated, transformed and reintegrated into colonial society. However, archaeological evidence also reveals systemic institutional failures at Point Puer, characterised by resource scarcity and mismanagement. By situating these findings within broader patterns of nineteenth-century youth institutions, this paper contributes new insights into how colonial authorities deployed carceral landscapes in attempts to create compliant workers from juvenile convicts.

About the presenters

Dr. Caiti D’Gluyas 

Caiti is an early career academic in archaeology, cultural heritage and history. She joined the UQ archaeology team in 2024 as a lecturer. Her work primarily examines the impacts and outcomes of British colonisation on people in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Caiti’s work combines historical archaeology, landscape archaeology and spatial analysis in GIS to explore the spatial history of Australia. She is currently writing a book about the archaeology of Point Puer.