This is my arrangement of an Irish ballad by Pete St. John. The arrangement was commissioned by the legendary WDR Rundfunkchor, Cologne (Chief Conductor Nicolas Fink), who are the excellent authors of this recording. Set during the Great Famine of the 1840s, the lyrics feature a fictional man from Athenry who stole food for his starving family and is sentenced to transportation to the Australian penal colony at Botany Bay.

In my own family history I have an Irish convict-ancestor, Samuel Iles who arrived in Tasmania in 1842. Samuel left a wife and six children behind in Fermanagh Ireland. She came out to Tasmania with all six children in 1852 (please, just imagine that miraculous reunion!) My family is descended from their daughter Sidney. Samuel’s crime was obtaining goods under false pretences. He likely saw an opportunity (illegal) and took a risk. He owned a small grocery store when he committed the crime.

I think Samuel Iles was very lucky his family made the arduous journey to join him. My other convict ancestor, James Morrisby – like most immigrant ancestors – never saw his family again.

My own mother Julie-Ann Hamilton discovered this through her enthusiasm for family history.