I am very interested in how various migrants were perceived by colonial New Zealand society, especially those who had convict ancestry.
I doubt that anyone would have known what their background was.
Debra 
Surely the colonial NZ society included those migrants whose heritage included a parent or grandparent who had been transported to the Colonies?
Anyway, there are several RChatters that have undertaken post graduate studies on convicts / descendants and their movements between the several British colonies.
There are also several Academics with peer review papers published in this century, with detailed fully referenced footnotes etc.
As early as 1890s Sydney Uni History Professors were lecturing on convictism.
The concept of a convict stain may originate with Molesworth in 1830s English Special Commission, and the various Emigration Schemes including the Colonies of South Australia and New Zealand. Convictism was definitely part of primary school teaching programs in NSW in 1920s right through to 1960s.
My own interests in family history date from late 1950s, rural NSW, and it was not until 1970s and working in Sydney that convictism became a negative or a taboo topic.
Happy to share contact details by PM if our Original Poster is interested.
JM
