G'day Radiano,

This would be one of the existing song references that lead to John Meredith researching song tunes when he moced to Sydney, in the late 1940s. He must have found a suitable version of Irish Mollie O and added the 2 lines to give a workable text for singing, some time before oublishing the Bushwhacker Broadsides in 1955.

I don't really see what worries Ron Edwards so musch about "They differ from the rest of the song in that they mention NSW while elsewhere only Botany Bay is given as the destination."

Both Botany Bay and New South Wales (which rhymes with "gales") were names dating from Capt. Cook's discovery of the East Coast of Australia, in 1770. "Botany Bay" was Joseph Banks's name for the bay south of modern Sydney and New South Wales was Cook's name for the entire area.

It is interesting that the name "Botany Bay" survived so long as the destination of transportation ballads, since NO convicte\s were actually sent to Botany Bay. Capt. Phillip, the first governor took one look at Botany Bay and sent the Navy to find somewhere better. They found Port Jackson and Sydney Harbour immediately to the north and moved there, lock, stock & barrel.

No real development occurred in Botany Bay until the days of the Crimean War (after convict transportation to eastern states had ceased) when fortifications were erected against possible (if improbable) Russian attacks -and precautions against smugglers coming into Sydney by the "back Door".

Regards,

Bob Bolton