The stories of 2,100 boys shipped from Britain’s streets to a remote colonial outpost near Port Arthur have earned Tasmanian author Alistair Scott one of Australia’s most significant history writing prizes.
Scott, a University of Tasmania alumnus, has won the $25,000 Dick and Joan Green Family Award for Tasmanian History for Urchin Convicts: The Point Puer Boys in Van Diemen’s Land.
“I am delighted to receive this award for my book about the boys held at Point Puer in the first half of the nineteenth century,” Scott said.
“In writing the book, I endeavoured to pay tribute to the Point Puer boys, many of whom struggled to integrate into colonial society after gaining their freedom.”
Scott described them as “our forgotten convicts” and said bringing some of their stories to life had been “very rewarding”.
The book examines the lives of boys transported to the Point Puer Boys Establishment in the early 19th century amid fears they posed a threat to public order.
Authorities hoped to turn them into productive workers, but many instead endured relentless punishment and mistreatment.
For some, transportation became a death sentence, with one in 30 boys dying at the establishment.
Born and raised in northern Tasmania, Scott is a former journalist, ministerial adviser and public servant.
He completed a PhD at the University of Tasmania in 2022 on the lives of the juvenile convicts held at Point Puer and is now a director of the National Trust Tasmania.
Judging panel chair Professor Kristyn Harman said the book remained relevant today.
“Juvenile justice is at the heart of Urchin Convicts and continues to be topical in Tasmania today,” Harman said.
“The judges admired the deep insights Alistair Scott shares with readers.”
Established in 2016, the biennial award commemorates the contributions of the late Dick Green AM and Joan Green OAM to Tasmanian culture and history.
Also shortlisted were Angela Baker for Umarrah and George and Stefan Petrow for Tasmanian Anzacs, both published by FortySouth.
