There is certainly a song in this story! In his post working for Major William de Gillern, James Loveless had the opportunity to read the London Dispatch. And there he read of his free pardon!

From the Australian Dictionary of Biography;

James Loveless, the two Standfields, Hammett and Brine sailed in the Surry to Sydney, where they arrived in August 1834. George Loveless was separated from his companions and sent to Van Diemen's Land in the William Metcalfe, reaching Hobart Town on 4 September. Lieutenant-Governor (Sir) George Arthur appreciated his sterling qualities and exemplary character and sent him to work on the domain farm at New Town as a shepherd and stock-keeper.

Later he was employed by Major William de Gillern at Glen Ayr, near Richmond; there he read in the London Dispatch of the great campaign that had been conducted in London for the prisoners' release and of Lord John Russell's order on 10 March 1836, that free pardons be issued to them. Loveless, however, had some months previously been persuaded to write to ask his wife Elizabeth to join him; when offered a free passage to England, he refused to accept it until certain that she had not already sailed. This delayed his departure for several months, but on 30 January 1837 he embarked in the Eveline and reached London in June.

Meanwhile the authorities in New South Wales had been far more dilatory in conveying the government's instructions and offer to his companions. It was not until 11 September that James Loveless, Brine and the Standfields sailed from Sydney in the John Barry, reaching Plymouth in March 1838. James Hammett, who had been working in the interior of the colony, did not arrive in England until September 1839.

On their return the Lovelesses, Standfields and Brine settled on farms near Chipping Ongar in Essex, and migrated to Canada a few years later; James Hammett alone went back to Tolpuddle. George Loveless, like his companions, became an active Chartist; he wrote The Victims of Whiggery (London, 1837), a remarkable account of the Dorchester labourers' experiences and of the transportation system. He died on a farm at London, Ontario, on 6 March 1874.