Postgraduate Students

Fabia Fox

Dark Dunedin: A Survey of Crime and Gender in Nineteenth-Century Dunedin Nineteenth-century

Dunedin was a hive of activity and historical research reflects this in areas such as immigration, politics, religion and commerce. The criminal activity that coexisted alongside these other endeavours, however, is largely overlooked by historians. This research serves initially as a survey of criminal activity recorded in Dunedin from 1862 until the Abolition of the Provinces Act of 1876. Analysis will focus on different patterns of urban criminality between women and men, specifically ethnicity, recidivism and the nature of the crimes committed. From this work will come a greater understanding of the colonial experience of those women and men who have been preserved within historical evidence because of their 'failure' within this society, providing the 'dark' history of this southern city to complement other research on Dunedin's early years. Supervisors:

Professor Angela McCarthy, Dr. Mark Seymour