A convict melodrama is a type of melodrama set in Australia during the convict era. They normally revolved around stories of innocent people wrongly accused of a crime who were transported to Australia as convicts. The best known work in this field was the novel For the Term of His Natural Life, which was adapted into various plays and films.[1]

These melodramas were highly popular in novel, theatre and film form in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. They had their origins in novels such as Les Misérables.[2]

Select works

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Novels

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Films

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References

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  1. ^ "Marcus Clarke". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 25 September 1937. p. 4. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  2. ^ "Innocent Convicts and Respectable Bushrangers: History and the Nation in Melbourne Melodrama, 1890–1914" by Wolf, Gabrielle from Journal of Australian Studies, No. 81, accessed 5 May 2013