Ellen Miles, a destitute former brothel keeper, was charged with vagrancy in Little Lonsdale Street in 1896.

In 1839, she had been convicted in London of passing a counterfeit coin. She was 11 years old, had been in custody 30 times and her mother was dead. Ellen’s father wanted her transported so he wouldn’t have to support her.

Professor McCalman said most convicts didn’t reoffend and blended into society. Irishwoman Mary Fennelly, transported for theft in Liverpool in 1840, married a pastoralist and later skins dealer Jesse Fairchild in Melbourne in 1849 and on her 1907 death left a huge estate worth £37,000 including a St Kilda terrace house.

Her obituary said she had travelled to Europe 14 times.

James Blackburn, a civil engineer, architect and surveyor, was transported in 1833 for cheque forgery in London.

In Van Diemen’s Land he designed buildings and a bridge, moved to Melbourne in 1849 and designed the city’s water supply.

The book, based on six years of research involving 60 volunteers, traces passengers from 126 convict ships and their descendants.

Garry McLoughlin, 80, of Armadale, was a researcher on the project. Like Arthur Calwell, he hadn’t found Michael McLoughlin in shipping records until Professor McCalman suggested he try convict records.

Garry said he and other relatives were surprised and sceptical at having a convict in the family.

But Michael’s personal details and signatures of Michael’s, both as a farmer in Kyneton, Victoria, and in Irish court documents, matched. “I’m quite certain about it now,” Garry says.

But he says Michael could have been innocent – the witness to the firearm theft was a 14-year-old boy and the local clergy, gentry and the crime victim supported Michael’s court appeals.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.