CET - it was written in the style of a ballad opera - the story based on the first Transports sent to Australia. To quote the original record cover: "The tale is presented as a cycle of new compositions in the idiom of traditional English folk song, linked by narrative passages in the style and to the medodies of broadsheet-ballads of the time"

Here is the promised tune for The Black And Bitter Night.

Mick

THE BLACK AND BITTER NIGHT
(Peter Bellamy)

  It is| cold, sad and| lone-ly in| this dis-mal| cell,
  No| sol-ace comes| up with the| day-|-
  My| heart knows an| an-guish that| no tongue can| tell
  Since they've| ta-ken my| true love a-|way-|-||.
  
    
    Oh the| black and| bit-ter night,
    And| oh, the| wea-ry| day-|-
    My| love has been| snatched far|, far from my| sight,
    And the| trans-ports will| bear her a-|way-|-.||
  
  
  
  X: 1
  T:Black And Bitter Night
  M:3/4
  L:1/4
  Q:1/4=105
  C:Peter Bellamy
  K:C
  G/A/|G F D|C E G|G B, G,|C2 
  (E/D/)|C E F|G A (c/A/)|d3-|d2
  (c/d/)|e c> e|d c G|A F c|G2
  E/D/|C E F| G A c|d3-|d||
  E>  D|C2  E|\
  M:2/4
  L:1/4
  G> F|\
  M:3/4
  L:1/4
  E2 
  F|G2 (E/F/)|(G A) c|d3-|d2
  (c/d/)|e c e|d2 c|A F c|G2
  E/D/|C E F|G A c|d3-|d2||