''The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant'' is a 2005 miniseries loosely based on the life of

Mary Bryant Mary Bryant (1765 – after 1794) was a Cornish convict sent to Australia. She became one of the first successful escapees from the fledgling Australian penal colony. Early life Bryant was born Mary Broad (referred to as Mary Braund at the ...

, an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

girl from Cornwall who in this telling was convicted of petty theft (though the historical Mary Bryant was transported for a violent robbery and assault), and who was

transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she w ...

to the Australian

Penal Colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...

on the

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...

with other prisoners bound for

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

. It was written by Peter Berry and directed by Peter Andrikidis. The film had a

budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...

in excess of 15 million, making it the largest-budget television

mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

produced in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

."Davenport sets sail again for TV"
BBC News. 15 April 2006.

Plot

Mary's story begins in her home, Cornwall

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

where her village is starving to death. In desperation, she steals, landing her a place on the long voyage to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

along with other convicts.

Pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestation, gestates) inside a woman, woman's uterus (womb). A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occur ...

by a jailer, Mary is befriended by a quick-witted

smuggle Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

r named Will. She is also aided by another on board, a stiff-necked, moralistic British

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

named Lt Ralph Clarke, whose wife abandons him just as the ships set sail. His help was portrayed as a mission in humanity and social reform. During a rough night at sea Mary hits her head on a bar and is knocked

unconscious Unconscious may refer to: Physiology * Unconsciousness, the lack of consciousness or responsiveness to people and other environmental stimuli Psychology * Unconscious mind, the mind operating well outside the attention of the conscious mind a ...

only to be saved by Will, with whom she becomes increasingly passionate. She is also cared for by Lt Clarke. Unaware that she is “ with child”, Clarke asks permission from the

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

to let Mary stay with him. He believes that by educating her, he can reform her. Clarke has promised "the girl will remain an

innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relation ...

under his charge" so, after finding out that she is pregnant, Clarke takes his anger out on one of the other female convicts (who insulted him) with a lash. Angered by his heartless act, Mary returns to the cells with the other prisoners. After giving birth to her daughter on the ship, Mary and the other convicts arrive at Botany Bay. Mary named her daughter , "after the ship". Seeing the benefits of being a family, Mary soon marries Will and they have a son Emmanuel. Her determination is always to avoid the hunger of her upbringing and to save her children from a similar fate. Mary "abandons" her husband to live with Clarke who had been infatuated with her ever since she stayed with him on the ship. This is merely a distraction so her husband and their friends can steal food and supplies. After getting everything they need to escape in the Governor's cutter, Mary slips away from Clarke in the middle of the night. Infuriated that Mary deceived him and again deserted him, Clarke shoots at and tries to sink their boat. They escape with only minor damage to the boat. Mary, her husband Will, their two children, and five other men set sail for

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is East Timor–Indonesia border, divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western p ...

, closely followed by Clarke who obsessively pursues them. Through sheer grit and enormous luck, most of them make it 4,000 miles to the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

colony of Timor where for a time they enjoy the luxury of

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

under false identities. However, fate conspires against them as Clarke stops there on his way back to

. The group flee Clarke and his guards, splitting up to avoid being caught. Will, realising the danger that Mary and the children are in, intentionally leads the guards away from his frightened family. Pursued by the jealous Clarke, Will is eventually shot and killed. An intense meeting between Mary and Clarke in the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

finds Clarke holding a

pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...

to Mary's head. Mary again tries to

manipulate Manipulation may refer to: * Manipulation (psychology) - the action of manipulating someone in a clever or unscrupulous way *Crowd manipulation - use of crowd psychology to direct the behavior of a crowd toward a specific action ::* Internet mani ...

the lovesick Clarke in order to save her children. Realising that she does not love him and only used him to survive, Clarke fires his pistol into the air, alerting nearby guards of their whereabouts causing Mary to be arrested. On the journey home to England, where Mary and her two surviving escapees are imprisoned once again, she loses both of her children to shipboard diseases. An emotional Mary lets go of her son and daughter, dropping them into the open sea, as she says farewell to the rest of her family. On arrival in England, a charismatic Mary gains the support of the English public as she retells her story of the search for justice, in which she lost her entire family. The courts decide to free Mary and her companions in appreciation of their honesty and the belief that they had learned their initial lesson. As for Clarke, he is left in England carrying the burden of being responsible for the death of Will, Charlotte, and Emmanuel. As Mary stands once again in Cornwall where her story began, she reflects on the short time of her family, and the lack of freedom symbolised through the death of her beloved. She silently agrees to carry on for the sake of their deceased souls, despite not knowing what the future holds anymore.

Cast

Crew

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
''The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant'' at the National Film and Sound Archive''The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant''
at

Australian Screen Online The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant, The APRA Award winners Australian adventure drama films 2005 television films 2005 films 2000s adventure drama films Films set in colonial Australia Films set in Cornwall Television shows set in colonial Australia 2000s Australian television miniseries 2005 Australian television series debuts 2005 Australian television series endings 2005 drama films 2000s English-language films