Sung by Simon McDonald [collected by Norm and Pat O'Connor September 1960]
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| Simon McDonald: Traditional singers and musicians in Victoria: Wattle LP, 1962 |
I am a native of the land of Erin
I was early banished from my native shore
On the ship Columbus went circular sailing
And I left behind me the girl I adore
Over bounding billows which was loudly raging
Like a bold sea mariner my course did steer
We were bound for Sydney our destination
And every day in irons wore
When I arrived 'twas in Port Jackson
And I thought my days would happy be
But I found out I was greatly mistaken
I was taken a prisoner to Moreton Bay
Chorus
Moreton Bay you'll find no equal
Norfolk Island and Emu Plains
At Castle Hill and cursed Toongabie
And all time places in New South Wales
Now every morning as the day was dawning
As we rose from heaven fell the morning dew
And we were roused without a moments warning
Our daily labour to renew
For three long years I was beastly treated
And heavy irons on my legs I wore
My back from flogging was lacerated
And oft-times painted with crimson gore
Like the Egyptians and ancient Hebrews
We were oppressed under Logan's yoke
But a native black there lay in ambush
Did give this tyrant a mortal stroke
Now fellow prisoners be exhilarated
That all such monsters such death may find
And when from bondage we are liberated
From our former sufferings shall fade from mind
Chorus
But Moreton Bay you'll find no equal
Norfolk Island or Emu Plains
At Castle Hills and cursed Toongabie
And all time places in New South Wales
Notes
See Articles on this site, including Murder of Captain Logan by the Blacks at Moreton Bay
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| Morton Bay Penal Settlement on the Brisbane River |
Patrick Logan became Commandant of the Moreton Bay penal settlement in 1826. He was hated by the convicts for his harsh methods. He did some exploring and was surveying the Upper Brisbane river when he was killed by Aborigines in 1830. Logan was a relentless flogger as shown in a sample record of his floggings that were noted in the diary of one of the prison clerks. This records that from February to October in 1828 Logan ordered 200 floggings with over 11,000 lashes. When Logan's body was brought back to Moreton Bay, the convicts "manifested insane joy at the news of his murder, and sang and hoorayed all night, in defiance of the warders."
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| Sydney Gazette Tuesday 16 November 1830 p.2 |
Bushranger Ned Kelly used lines from the ballad in his 'Jerilderie Letter' in 1879 ('Port McQuarrie Toweringabbie Norfolk island and Emu plains and in those places of tyranny and condemnation many a blooming Irish man rather than subdue to the Saxon yoke were flogged to death and bravely died in servile chains.')
In 1911, Bushranger Jack Bradshaw printed a version of the song in his True History of the Australian Bushrangers. Bradshaw printed the song again in Twenty Years of Prison Life in the Gaols of NSW attributing it to "poor old Frank McNamara".
MacNamara's description of the treatment of prisoners under 'Logan's yoke' is amply documented by a letter to the editor of the Sydney Monitor in 1830 the year of Captain Patrick Logan's death. See Articles on this site.
In 1911, Bushranger Jack Bradshaw printed a version of the song in his True History of the Australian Bushrangers. Bradshaw printed the song again in Twenty Years of Prison Life in the Gaols of NSW attributing it to "poor old Frank McNamara".
MacNamara's description of the treatment of prisoners under 'Logan's yoke' is amply documented by a letter to the editor of the Sydney Monitor in 1830 the year of Captain Patrick Logan's death. See Articles on this site.
