It begins in 1834 when my great- grandfather, young George White, aged 17, was wrongfully arrested for theft in England, and sentenced to a term of seven years' transportation to 'parts beyond the seas.'
A humble mill worker, he is schooled in literacy by his mother, and later learns he is heir to his grandfather's business. After a mill fire he decides to seek clerical work in London, but becomes the victim of a plot to disinherit him.
Unjustly arrested, he spends time in Newgate Gaol. He meets other prisoners, and witnesses the 'Service of the Dead' before the condemned are hanged. Later, he is sent to a prison hulk on the Thames. In the gloomy flush deck he mixes with scores of men in leg-irons, six to a cell. He suffers the constant noise of rattling chains, the shouting of coarse oaths, the filth and vermin, and overpowering stench of hoards of miserable inhabitants. He witnesses floggings, and works on a dredge and in the prison foundry. He uses a ploy to embark on a convict ship. En route to Van Diemen's Land he has more adventures, makes new friends, survives illness, a fire on board, and a dramatic shipwreck.
He is assigned to work in Launceston where he meets his future wife. A fellow prisoner, she tells her story. Romance blossoms, but he is flogged and sent to Port Arthur Prison for seven years. Here, he suffers many hardships before receiving his ticket -of -leave. He meets his love again only to lose her once more. She is sent to the Female factory with hundreds of other women where their behavior and antics in close confinement are a revelation to her. Denouement comes in an unusual way.
I am an eye surgeon, retired after a lifetime working in Canberra: a city of politics and scene of many national and international incidents. In 1994, I won first prize in the WDSSC Short Story Competition. I now live in the quiet little town of Nelson, New Zealand; and make use of my time editing and writing articles for the Journal of the Nelson School of Music: about forty articles on music to date.
But shock - horror! A recent search of the family tree disclosed two great- grandparents had been deported to Van Diemen's land. One received seven years for stealing a bag of buttons; the other, ten years for taking a scarf.
Here was a tale of the twists and turns of fate, typical of the experiences of so many of Australia's early settlers.