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The Port Arthur convict photographs are a remarkable record of the men who were sent from Britain to serve time in Australia between the 1820s and the 1850s. Exiled: The Port Arthur Convict Photographs showcases some of these portraits and combines them with biographies of the men-and their female partners-based on transportation records, trial documents, official correspondence, prison files, local and overseas newspaper reports and eyewitness accounts. The result is a fascinating insight into an often misunderstood part of Australia's story, in which these reluctant pioneers become individuals born with strengths and weaknesses; who had hopes and dreams; celebrated victories and mourned tragedies; and made good decisions and bad. In short, they turn out to be men and women very much like ourselves.

Throughout a 40-year career in book publishing, author Edwin Barnard has been fascinated by the first-person accounts of the people who played 'bit parts' in great historical events. Discovering the Port Arthur photographs while researching another project, he spent two years piecing together the stories of some of the men who gaze our at us from the fading sepia images. His only disappointment so far is that he has failed to discover a convict ancestor to call his own. But he hasn't given up hope.