Includes bibliographical references and index.
In April 1791 the Queen sailed from the Cove of Cork with the first cargo of Irish convicts destined for the new prison colony of New South Wales. During the next 76 years, Ireland supplied about 50,000, or one-third, of all the convicts transported top Australia. Who they were and what became of them are questions that historians are only now beginning to answer. But there can be no doubt about their influence both as individuals and as a distinctive section of Australia’s founding European population.

In this book, some of the leading authorities on Irish convicts have re-created the Irish and colonial lives of a colourful selection of petty criminals, political rebels, tithe-protesters, eccentric clerics, faction-fighters and poets. How they responded to the challenge of a new life at 'Botany Bay' is an exciting story, rich with Irish pathos and good humour.