"In eighteenth-century Britain, children as young as seven were tried in court as adults for crimes such as picking pockets or stealing clothes. If convicted, they could be sentenced to death or transported to the then-perilous and isolated colonies of Australia, where life was often as difficult and dangerous as it was in Britain. But transportation also meant opportunity for the lucky few. Child Convicts is about the lives of these young prisoners who were forever changed because of transportations, including the boy who became the first person hanged in Australia and the girl whose likeness is now on the nations' twenty-dollar note. This is their story: one of nation-building and one of survival."--Jacket flap.

Great Southern Land -- Crime -- The First Fleet -- Starvation -- A land without people? -- About convict origins -- From a jail to a colony -- Punishment -- Boys will be boys -- Escape -- Mothers of the nation -- The end of transportation -- Today's convict links.