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Ireland, 1790.  Crime is escalating, as hundreds of vagrants stroll the streets prostituting themselves and robbing others.  Those already in gaol were digging their way out through the sewers, as others did the hangman's jig.  All the while, the idea of revolution was being bandied about too much for King George's liking.

Transportation beyond the seas was the answer, but to where?  Too many had already returned from America.  A journey to Newfoundland had ended in disaster, so too had others to Nova Scotia.  There was talk of the French coming to the aid of the Irish and the fervour of revolutionary freedom was building in the city streets and country lanes.

The authorities turned with hope to Botany Bay.  Never mind that those at the front of the firing line were mostly petty thieves and vagabonds.  The Queen was the first of five ships to leave during that decade, carrying convicts bound for New South Wales.  On board were 155 men and women, plus four children.  Of the men, 23 had formed part of the ill-fated Newfoundland journey.  Some of the Queen arrivals, including the heavily pregnant Catherine Edwards, became notorious for absconding into the bush from Parramatta, in the hope of reaching China.

  The Irish Vanguard is Barbara Hall's fifth book in her series of Irish convicts transported to New South Wales prior to 1800.  Her meticulous research brings to life those who arrived on the Queen. Here, discover their crimes in Ireland and their fate in the penal colony.