I wrote a blog for GSQ in 2023 titled The Gift of Resilience about Ann Simmons, my three times great-grandmother, who was transported to Van Diemen’s Land in early 1823. Researching Ann was a slow process and at times more difficult than I expected because hardly anything had been written about her. Ann is mentioned in Peter Tardiff’s Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls on page 600, but the information was minimal: the date and nature of her conviction, the ship … Continue reading