Australian Convicts

[wildtrouser]

Just how many Australians are actually descended from convicts? We always assume it's a lot but are there any facts?

[geofbob]

What do you mean by "descended from"? Do you mean a person who somewhere in their family tree - which after two hundred years is a tree with a lot of branches - has one man or woman who was a 19th Century deportee? If so, I imagine quite a few white Australians are descended form transportees from England. But by the same reckoning, most of us - whatever our nationality or ethnicity - probably have a murderer or two (not to mention someone who stole a loaf of bread) - in our ancestry.