Rare Colonial Convict Cap: Symbol of Harsh Penal Conditions

A rare Australian Colonial biconial leather convict cap, first half 19th century, together with three volumes titled 'A Brief history of Port Arthur and the Tasman Peninsula Out-Stations', 'Port Arthur', and 'Australian Convicts', other notes: These caps are extremely rare, and all documented examples are currently housed in public collections around Australia including the Powerhouse, and the Museum of applied Arts and Sciences. These caps formed part of a distinctive uniform worn by convicts to distinguish themselves, and ultimately signal their rank in the Government system, as unpaid labourers and often referred to as Government property. These caps are significant not only for their rarity, as a colonial garment, but because of their symbolic representation of the harsh conditions of life led by many convicts from the early penal colonies.