Currency lads and lasses

The first generation of children born of convicts in the Australian colony were called ‘currency lads and lasses‘ to distinguish them from the free settlers (Sterlings) who were born in the British Isles. Tasmanians have played down the achievements of the currency lad and lasses, preferring instead to honour those who can trace an unblemished history directly back to England – an ‘island cringe’ resulting in ‘a century of suppression at all levels’. (Roslynn Haynes)

Social acceptability was prized above all else – ‘memories were long in the intimate island community and few emancipists could cast off the fetters of their criminal past’. (Henry Reynolds)

It was difficult for the emancipists to escape their ‘stain’, and their descendants fared little better. A barrier existed between those with the taint of convict ancestry and the free settlers. A society where Georgian class boundaries were strictly honoured.

The currency lads and lasses and their children’s children didn’t talk about their past, losing the cultural heritage that had formed them. In the quest for a new life in a land of opportunity, the storyline was lost. But nowadays Taswegians are proud of their convict ancestors.

Captain James Kelly (pictured) was Hobart Town’s most famous and notorious currency lad. He was one of the first to be born in NSW. In the December 1815, James Kelly set off with four convicts from Hobart to complete a circumnavigation of Van Diemen’s Land. He was rewarded handsomely for his efforts and became a wealthy man indeed. The famous Kelly’s Steps in Salamanca Place were built for his convenience to walk to work at Salamanca Place where he ran the booming whaling industry. If the tour guide at Sarah Island is to be believed, it was named after the Governor’s wife, with whom Kelly had an affair.