''The Girl from Botany Bay'' by

Carolly Erickson Carolly Erickson (born January 1, 1943–November 11, 2020) an American author of historical fiction and non-fiction. In 2008, her book ''The Tsarina's Daughter'' won the RT Reader's Choice Award for best Historical Fiction. Personal life Eric ...

is a 2004 non-fiction biography of

Mary Bryant Mary Bryant (c. 1765 – after 1794) was a Cornish convict sent to Australia in 1787 with the First Fleet. In 1791, she became one of the first successful escapees from the fledgling Australian penal colony alongside her husband William Bryan ...

, an Englishwoman sent to the

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, 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 a ...

penal colony in 1786 after being convicted of

highway robbery A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to foo ...

Synopsis

Mary Bryant (nee Broad) was born in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England in 1786. She grew up in poverty and spent her life as a highway robber who camped in the forests to avoid the law. She was arrested and sentenced to death for her crimes in 1786, but her sentence was commuted to imprisonment in a penal colony in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. She became pregnant aboard the prison ship transporting her to Australia and gave birth to a daughter while at sea. After arriving in Botany Bay, she married William Bryant, another English convict. They struggled to support themselves through farming and eventually made an escape attempt with their two children and seven other convicts. They made it as far as

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

before being arrested and sent back to England for punishment. Her husband and children died during the journey, leaving Mary alone. In England, she expected to be executed for her crimes but she was actually pitied by the public. King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

pardoned her, and she was reunited with her sister who had inherited a large inheritance.

Reception

The book received positive reviews from critics. Janette King from the

Historical Novel Society The Historical Novel Society (HNS) is a nonprofit international literary society devoted to promotion of and advocacy for the genre of historical fiction. Definition of historical fiction There are varying definitions as to what types of literat ...

wrote that ""Most appealing of all is that it uncovers the life a female convict in the late 1780s, an extremely rare glimpse for the time. Clearly Erickson knows her subject and the period, for Broad’s story is well supported by historical records; the gaps are filled in by likely surmise and speculation in a way that’s anything but dry chronicle." A review from the Melbourne daily newspaper

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

commented that "''The Girl'' is a story with all the hallmarks of romantic or historical fiction: sex, violence, crime, adventure, and heartbreak. But there is a catch. It is not fiction - at least not completely."{{Cite web , date=2004-07-04 , title=The Girl From Botany Bay , url=https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/the-girl-from-botany-bay-20040704-gdy5dd.html , access-date=2025-05-13 , website=The Age , language=en

References

2004 non-fiction books Books about Australian history Wiley (publisher) books Botany Bay