The Girl From Botany Bay

by Carolly Erickson

Book Overview

On a moonless night in the early 1790s, prisoner Mary Bryant, her husband William, her two small children, and seven other convicts stole a twenty-foot longboat and slipped noiselessly out of Sydney... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471271403
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.1" x 0.9" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Shocking, compelling

A gripping page turner illustrating incredible endurance and survival of an eighteenth century English convict sent to Australia's Botany Bay. Found guilty of highway robbery in 1787, Mary Bryant was sentenced to seven years imprisonment at England's newest penal colony in Botany Bay (Sydney Cove). She was one of more than a hundred convicts onboard the harrowing First Fleet. The voyage out to Australia and then the trial and errors of establishing a settlement are alive with all the unbelievable horrors one can imagine. Their escape to Indonesia is an unsurpassed human feat of courage and determination. Scurvy, malaria, ocean storms, inhumane and cruel treatments, brutal living conditions, thirst and hunger, it's all here. This is Mary Bryant's astonishing story and Carolly Erickson's descript narrative is of the highest caliber. Highly recommend.

I HAVE FOUND A NEW WRITER

I BOUGHT THIS BOOK THINKING IT WAS A NOVEL. I WAS DISSAPOINTED WHEN I FOUND IT WAS NOT. I WAS NOT DISSAPOINTED WHEN I READ IT. IT WAS VERY WELL WRITTEN IN STORY FORM. I REALLY GOT TO KNOW THE PEOPLE SHE WRITES ABOUT. IT WOULD MAKE A GREAT MOVIE. I HIGHLY RECOMEND THIS BOOK AS A NICE CHANGE OF PASE BOOK.

A good piece of niche history

This short book retelling the legendary tale of the Girl from Botany Bay--actually Sydney Cove--who was sentenced to penal camp labor in Australia for highway robbery in England in the late 1700s is an entertaining read. Pieced largely from a few contemporary mentions of Mary Broad in newspapers, journals, and personal memoirs of people who were in the journey with her, Ms. Erickson has put together a short, well researched book. Though less than 200 pages, the book could have probably been shorter. Since there is so little in the public record about Mary Broad, who was illiterate herself and hence couldn't write down her own story, Ms. Erickson has to spend a great deal of time on conjecture and educated guesses about what may have been going through Mary's mind at a particular point in time. This distraction aside, the book is still worth the short time it would take to read.

Ever wanted a reason to not become a criminal?

Terrifying story of the dangers of the sea and the horrors of life on prison ships. Thank heavens I have never committed any of the crimes (or at least been caught) that would have doomed me to the punishment of being on a ship bound for Botany Bay. Mary Broad's story of "Crime and Punishment" is a vivid description of 18th century survival under the harshest conditions. Sealed into a filthy, animalistic hold of a ship and bound for halfway around the world to be imprisioned on the primative Botany Bay, Mary's life goes from bad to worse prompting a plan to escape via a small boat. With her husband and friends, Mary sets off to get anywhere but Botany Bay. Battered by weather that would have challenged the largest of ships, the little group of escaped convicts suffer hunger and thirst, lose sight of the coast, and find themselves in the open sea. Finally they drag into the harbor of Kupang where they are accepted and given the warmest of welcomes. Finally, for the first time in her life, Mary experiences pleasures of life that had always been out of her reach. But this dream-life comes to an end when the residents of Kupang realize that their new friends are escaped prisoners. Mary is turned over to the British and returned to England. Standing trial once again she is to be remanded to Newgate Prison -- it was new then -- but public sentiment moves the courts to determine that Mary has been punished enough and she is released. The rest of her life is spent quietly and she passes into history without any more notice. The only reason we know her story or even have any interest in the story of Mary Brand is because she was "The Girl from Botany Bay".

A Book of Human Suffering

I was aware that England used Australia as a place to send prisoners during the American Revolutionary War years and later, but I never realized how miserable the living conditions were and the human cargo that was shipped there arrived more dead than alive. Botany Bay actually was located on the southern shore of the island of Tasmania, but conditions were such that the prisoners were transferred to what is now Sydney harbor. Lawbreakers in England such as Mary Bryant were routinely sentenced to death by hanging. Mary was one of those whose life was spared and chosen to serve her sentence in Australia. After several punishing months at sea and living in filth on the ship in addition to becomming pregnant by a male passenger the group of convicts arrived at their destination. Living conditions for the prisoners encouraged everyone to plot their escape from this living hell hole. Mary, along with her husband, child, and other prisoners escaped and headed for the island of Timor. This is a story of sadistic guards who enjoyed abusing their authority by having violators whipped for escape attempts and other rule violations. Mary and her family were to be returned to England after being recaptured, but her husband and now two children both died before arriving. Mary expected to be resentenced to death, but James Boswell, a friend of King George, wrote asking for a pardon for Mary for all the trials and tribulations she had been through. His appeal was successful and Mary received a pardon along with a yearly annunity from James Boswell for her to live on. This is a book of human suffering while traveling on a ship in terrible weather in addition to the suffering while in captivity in Australia. The English weren't bashful in handing out death penalities to its citizens, and sentencing offenders to Australia to live in squalor if they survived the trip was a way of just getting these people out of their hair and the country. This is a sad chapter in the history of England.