Moreton Bay — A Ballad of Chains and Exile
“As I was walking one Sunday morning, by Brisbane’s waters I chanced to stray…” Few transportation ballads carry the weight and authority of Moreton Bay . The song is generally attributed to Francis MacNamara , an Irish political prisoner known as “Frank the Poet,” who was transported to Australia in the 1830s. Although no signed manuscript survives, oral tradition and historical scholarship strongly link the ballad to him. Whether written solely by MacNamara or shaped collectively among convicts, the song stands as one of the most powerful testimonies of Irish suffering in the Australian penal system. The narrator declares himself “a native of Erin’s island,” torn from his parents and the woman he loved. That lament reflects the wider Irish experience in the aftermath of rebellion and agrarian unrest. Transportation was not merely punishment — it was permanent exile. Once shipped to New South Wales, a return to Ireland was nearly impossible. The singer lists the penal stations h...