History Main / SentencedToDownUnder

* In one episode of ''Series/InspectorMorse'' the title character is forced to go on sick leave, and busies himself with reinvestigating a murder case from Oxford during the 1860s, which he suspects resulted in three wrongful convictions. The men were sentenced to hang, but one found religion in prison and became a model inmate. For this his sentence was commuted to transportation at the last minute (presumably to Australia given the time period).

* Not {{Literature/Kydd}} himself - though he ''does'' captain a transport ship full of convicts to {{UsefulNotes/Australia}} during the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amiens Peace of Amiens]] in ''Command''.
** Renzi, however, joins Kydd's transport as a free-settler passenger, [[spoiler:because he wants to impress Kydd's sister, Cecelia, by starting up his own estate. This doesn't work out very well for him, though, but luckily, Kydd's there to take him home.]]

* In the original ''Franchise/StarTrek'', Khan's ship was the SS Botany Bay, specifically as an allusion to this.

* Music/{{U2}}'s song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJYj82ToDXs "Van Diemen's Land"]] (after the original name for Tasmania) is about the Irish freedom fighters who were transported. It's specifically dedicated to the poet John Boyle O'Reilly, who was deported to Western Australia in 1868 for rebel activities as a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

-->Now all my young Dookies and Dutchesses\\

Or you'll find us in Botany Bay

When the British colonized a South Pacific continent of UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} in the 18th century, they established it as a dumping ground for their trash. As their prisons were becoming overcrowded, thieves, arsonists, grave robbers, traitors, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking debtors]], and anyone else society considered a "lowlife" were sentenced ''en masse'' to the LandDownUnder simply to clear backlogs. Men, women, and children of all ages found out the hard way that it was very easy to score a one-way ticket beyond the seas. This was possibly the original source for the term "KangarooCourt".

[[AC: Film]]

[[AC: Literature]]

[[AC: Live-Action TV]]

[[AC: Music]]

[[AC: Stand-Up Comedy]]

-->Let me get this straight: You keep the shitty weather and shitty food, while we get the Great Barrier Reef and lobsters the size of canoes? ...I'm JackTheRipper.

[[AC: Theatre]]

[[AC: Real Life]]

* Not {{Literature/Kydd}} himself - though he ''does'' captain a transport ship full of convicts to {{UsefulNotes/Australia}} during the Peace of Amiens in ''Command''.

-----

* BillHicks thought being sent to Australia from Britain wasn't much of a punishment.
--> "Let me get this straight: You keep the shitty weather and shitty food, while we get the Great Barrier Reef and lobsters the size of canoes? ...I'm JackTheRipper."

* During the late 18th century and the first half of the 19th, this was very much TruthInTelevision. Interestingly, it was considered the merciful option, since it was available as an alternative to hanging (not that hanging was being used mercifully, as AllCrimesAreEqual notes).

* Since ''Series/EscapeOfTheArtfulDodger'' is a sequel to '
'Literature/OliverTwist'' set in Australia, both the Artful Dodger and Fagin are transported to the show's setting this way.

* Since EscapeOfTheArtfulDodger is a sequel to Literature/OliverTwist set in Australia both the Artful Dodger and Fagin are transported to the show's setting this way

* This seems to be a common stock fate for characters in the novels of Creator/CharlesDickens; in fact, it almost happens to Kit in ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' thanks to the machinations of Mr. Qulip, but Dick Swiveller manages to prove his innocence in the nick of time.

Modern works, especially Science fiction or SpaceOpera, may revive the idea of a Far-off colony suited for depositing society's troublemakers and make direct allusions to the original.

When the British colonized a South Pacific continent of UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} in the 18th century, they established it as a dumping ground for their trash. As their prisons were becoming overcrowded, thieves, arsonists, grave robbers, traitors, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking debtors]], and anyone else society considered a "lowlife" were sentenced ''en masse'' to the LandDownUnder simply to clear backlogs. Men, women, and children of all ages found out the hard way that it was very easy to score a one-way ticket beyond the seas. This practice was possibly the original source for the term "KangarooCourt".

When the British colonized a South Pacific continent of UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} in the 18th century, they established it as a dumping ground for their trash. As their prisons were becoming overcrowded, thieves, arsonists, grave robbers, traitors, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking debtors]], and anyone else Victorian sensibilities considered a "lowlife" were sentenced ''en masse'' to the LandDownUnder simply to clear backlogs. Men, women, and children of all ages found out the hard way that it was very easy to score a one-way ticket beyond the seas. This practice was possibly the original source for the term "KangarooCourt".

When the British colonized a South Pacific continent called UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} in the 18th century, they established it as a dumping ground for their trash -- thieves, arsonists, grave robbers, traitors, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking debtors]], and God knows what other lowlifes were sentenced ''en masse'' to the LandDownUnder simply to clear backlogs, hence the term "KangarooCourt." Men, women, and children of all ages found out the hard way that it was very easy to score a one-way ticket beyond the seas, as the prisons were becoming overcrowded and the streets were full of criminals. This trope is for instances of this special punishment. More often than not, this comes up in period pieces, due to this practice ending in the Victorian era.

When the British colonized a South Pacific continent called UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} in the 18th century, they established it as a dumping ground for their trash -- thieves, arsonists, grave robbers, traitors, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking debtors]], and God knows what other lowlifes. Men, women, and children of all ages found out the hard way that it was very easy to score a one-way ticket beyond the seas, as the prisons were becoming overcrowded and the streets were full of criminals. This trope is for instances of this special punishment. More often than not, this comes up in period pieces, due to this practice ending in the Victorian era.

[[AC:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Zoidberg inadvertently sent Hermes to the equivalent of an Australian mining field, but it wasn't meant as punishment for a crime.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Zoidberg inadvertently sent Hermes to the equivalent of an Australian mining field.

[[AC:Western Animation]

-> ''Australia: Bet you wish YOUR great-great-great grandfather stole a loaf of bread.''
-->- Seen on a T-Shirt

When the British colonized a South Pacific continent called Australia in the 18th century, they established it as a dumping ground for their trash -- thieves, arsonists, grave robbers, traitors, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking debtors]], and God knows what other lowlifes. Men, women, and children of all ages found out the hard way that it was very easy to score a one-way ticket beyond the seas, as the prisons were becoming overcrowded and the streets were full of criminals. This trope is for instances of this special punishment. More often than not, this comes up in period pieces, due to this practice ending in the Victorian era.

!!Examples
!!!Film

!!!Literature

!!!Live-Action TV

!!!Music

!!!Theatre

!!!Real Life
* During the late 18th century and the first half of the 19th, this was very much TruthInTelevision.

When the British colonized a South Pacific continent called Australia in the 18th century, they established it as a dumping ground for their trash -- thieves, arsonists, grave robbers, traitors, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking debtors]], and God knows what other lowlifes. Men, women, and children of all ages found out the hard way that it was very easy to score a one-way ticket beyond the seas, as the prisons were becoming overcrowded and the streets were full of criminals. This trope is for instances of this special punishment. More often than not, this comes up in period pieces, due to this practice ending in the Victorian era.

!!Examples
!!!Film
* In a rare American occurrence, a scene in ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' has Stephen summarily sentence Django to servitude in an Australian mining company, where he'll be worked literally to death and then buried in a mass grave, just for shooting up his recently deceased master's plantation. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, these particular Australians are more gullible than Stephen had anticipated, and Django deals with them before returning to the plantation to pick up where he had left off during his RoaringRampageOfRevenge]].
* ''Zu neun Ufern'' (a.k.a. ''To New Shores and To a Distant Shore'') is a 1937 German film about a singer in Victorian London who takes the blame for her aristocratic lover's forging of cheques and who is sentenced to be transported to Australia. It is largely a propoganda piece designed to attack the British aristocracy.

!!!Literature
* This is the Artful Dodger's final fate in ''Literature/OliverTwist''.
* Happens to Magwich in ''Literature/GreatExpectations''.
* This seems to be a common stock fate for characters in the novels of Creator/CharlesDickens; in fact, it almost happens to Kit in ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' thanks to the machinations of Mr. Qulip, but Dick Swiveller manages to prove his innocence in the nick of time.
* In the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series, [[DragonRider Laurence]] and [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Temeraire]] get booted to Australia at the end of the fifth book. Not bad, considering that they started that book under death and breeding-ground sentences respectively for treason.
* The ''Literature/{{Dinotopia}}'' novel ''Windchaser'' starts with the wreck of a prison ship heading to Australia. One main character was a prisoner from the ship and one was the son of the ship's doctor.
* ''For the Term of His Natural Life'' by Marcus Clarke (originally serialised between 1870 and 1872) is a classic Australian novel on the subject. The story follows the fortunes of Rufus Dawes, a young man transported for a murder that he did not commit. The book clearly conveys the harsh and inhumane treatment meted out to the convicts, some of whom were transported for relatively minor crimes, and graphically describes the conditions the convicts experienced.
* This practice was referenced during a BatDeduction by Vizzini in ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' and its film adaptation, who mentions that Australia is entirely populated by criminals.

!!!Live-Action TV
* On ''Series/TheYoungOnes'', one bit scene featured two convicts on a ship bound for Australia. While one was irate about his sentence, the other was rather pleased to go where his son and daughter-in-law had been sent years earlier.
* In the original ''Franchise/StarTrek'', Khan's ship was the SS Botany Bay, specifically as an allusion to this.

!!!Music
* Music/{{U2}}'s song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJYj82ToDXs "Van Diemen's Land"]] (after the original name for Tasmania) is about the Irish freedom fighters who were transported. It's specifically dedicated to the poet John Boyle O'Reilly, who was deported to Western Australia in 1868 for rebel activities as a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
* "Botany Bay" is all about this trope. Final verse:
-->Now all my young Dookies and Dutchesses\\
Take warning from what I've to say\\
Mind all is your own as you toucheses\\
Or you'll find us in Botany Bay
* The '70s Irish song "The Fields of Athenry" is about a young man being sent to Australia.

!!!Theatre
* In ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', this happened to Benjamin Barker, the man who would become Sweeney, who was transported for life fifteen years ago because the corrupt Judge Turpin wanted his wife Lucy for himself.
* The play ''Our Country's Good'' is about a bunch of people sentenced to Australia.

!!!Real Life