Recently, I read a book review regarding a work called 'Tour to Hell' (by David Levell) about the 18th C. New South Wales penal colony. The focuses on the myths and beliefs of the convicts themselves rather than a history of transportation per se.

It was believed, for example, that escapees were only a week on foot away from China and such an escape plan was known as the 'China Walk'. Irish convicts believed the sheer size, inhospitality and remoteness of the place was a conspiratorial lie perpetrated by 'The Evil British Overlords'™ to put them off from trying to escape, even though some escapees seem to have returned of their own volition unable to cope with the desert wilderness, dying from dehydration and exposure.

Are there any songs that touch on the ideas mentioned above or just escaping from the penal colonies generally? I know of songs about people being transported (i.e. going there) but, off the top of my head, nothing else.

Whilst writing this, I think I'd also be interested in 'prison break' type song in general too.