Dr Kristyn Harman shines a light on Tasmania's history of convict deportation

"What was a Maori man doing at Maria Island in the late 1840s?" Dr Harman said.

"It was commemorating Hohepa Te Umuroa, he died there. I'm a Kiwi, so I was puzzled," she said.

"It was only later that I found out that he had actually been transported as a convict from New Zealand to Van Diemen's Land, as it was back then."

Dr Harman said she was interested to discover that many people, including a number of Maori warriors, had been deported from New Zealand to Van Diemen's Land.

This is just one of the topics that Dr Harman will speak about at her upcoming presentation for the 36th John West Memorial Lecture at QVMAG Inveresk.

Dr Harman's presentation will focus on "the phenomenon of free people ending up in the convict system from within the Australian colonies".

"My interest in convict history has always been finding its lesser-known aspects," she said.

Dr Harman said her presentation "should appeal to a broad audience interested in learning more about Tasmania's history and where that fits in the world".

Dr Harman's latest research project, which she collaborated on with Dr Vicky Nagy, has received funding from the Australian Research Council.

It will focus on the historical phenomenon of people who arrived free in Australia's nineteenth-century colonies only to be sentenced and deported to Van Diemen's Land.

Dr Harman said that this colonial practice indicates the beginning of criminal deportation in Australia - an issue that still resonates today.

"I think of it as they've come with their little suitcase, their hopes and dreams, and all of that comes crashing down at some point in their future though because they run afoul of the law within the Australian colonies and actually end up being transported as convicts," she said.

"People might be familiar with the way that, in the last ten years, the Australian Government's been using part of the Migration Act to cancel the visas of people with criminal records on the grounds of bad character-and is criminally deporting those people," she said.

The eponymous Examiner editorialist John West himself wrote editorials demanding the end of convict transportation.

Dr Harman will become the latest in a long line of speakers to host the memorial lecture, including two former Tasmanian Governors, Sir Guy Green and Kate Warner, along with many decorated historians.

According to the University of Tasmania, Dr Harman is an internationally recognised and award-winning expert on cross-cultural encounters in Britain's nineteenth-century colonies, with a particular focus on law, punishment, and incarceration.

The Launceston Historical Society will host the 36th John West Memorial Lecture at QVMAG Inveresk on Sunday, March 17, at 2 p.m.

The event is free for Launceston Historical Society members and $5 for visitors.