History Series / AgainstTheWind

Mary is assigned to Colonel Chester of the Rum Corps, and encounters the stable boy Jonathan Garrett (Jon English), who takes a shine to her (because of her friendliness), and the Irish "lifer" Dinny O'Byrne, who also takes a shine to her (because of her Irishness). Mary is well educated and literate, uncommon for convicts, and ends up as a nanny for the colonel's children - and she also manages to teach Jonathan the letters, making him a more educated man.

---> ''Yet, Freedom, thy banner torn and flying, flows like the thunderstorm [[TitleDrop Against The Wind]]'' (''Lord Byron'').

'''Against The Wind''' is a historical TV series, spanning the years from 1797 to 1810, telling the story of Irish and english convicts and their role in building the society that eventually would become modern Australia. The series was made in eleven parts, written by Bronwyn Binns and produced by Seven Network Operations.

* BilingualBonus: The Irish do drop some Irish phrases on occasion. In conversation one of the rebels can be heard discussing "the Sásanaigh", a word better known from the ''{{Outlander}}'' series. (Sásanach[[note]]Sásanaigh, plural[[/note]] or Sassenach are the Irish and Scottish forms of the same word, literally meaning Saxon, but contextually just meaning "English".)

** On the female side we have Polly, who actually uses her finger nails against mr Greville while still on the ship to australia.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Discussed from the very first episode and onwards, first by Mary´s father, and then by Mary herself. She gets tired of all the pointless rebellions after all, mostly because she cannot bear to see her own friends and countrymen get killed and hanged (or, as is shown on the ship to Australia) flogged to death. The constant discussion on different ways to win freedom is a classical left-wing trait.
* StiffUpperLip: This British trait is played up to show the british stuffiness - the British ''are'' all things considered both overlords and landowners in the series. Subverted with the common Englishmen Will and Jonathan. The trait is also played up to set them apart from the "unruly Irish" both in Ireland and in Australia.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Mary. She got transported, not because of evil intent, but because she wished to help her family get their cow back. She is one of the most morally upright persons in the entire series and gets everyone´s respect for it.

The story follows ''Mary Mulvane'' (played by Mary Larkin), an Irish girl who gets transported from Ireland in 1798, because of allegations of helping the rebel Michael Connor (who actually was helping her getting her cow back). She dreams of getting back to Ireland after seven years of transportation, but gets tangled up in Australia, both romantically and politically.

Mary is assigned to colonel Chester of the Rum Corps, and encounters the stable boy Jonathan Garrett (Jon English), who takes a shine to her (because of her friendliness), and the Irish "lifer" Dinny o`Byrne, who also takes a shine to her (because of her irishness). Mary is well educated and literated, uncommon for convicts, and ends up as a nanny for the colonel´s children - and she also manages to teach Jonathan the letters, making him a more educated man.

The rebellion in Ireland of 1798 kills of many dreams of a free Ireland, and Mary is advised to stay on in Australia, where she eventually marries Jonathan and builds a farm with him. The rum corps, however, puts the entire New South Wales under strict military rule, which angers both the settlers and the convicts, and the Irish convicts rebel in 1804. The rebellion is struck down, and many of the rebels are shot or hanged for it.

Jonathan decides to rebel in his own way, through the letter of the law, and is inprisoned for it, but new officers arriving from Britain puts and end to this rule, and a new society develops.

* BilingualBonus: The Irish do drop some Gaelic phrases on occasion. In conversation one of the rebels can be heard discussing "the sasneag", a word better known from the ''{{Outlander}}'' series.

!!! Tropes:

* BilingualBonus: The Irish do drop some gaelic phrases on occasion. In conversation one of the rebels can be heard discussing "the sasneag", a word better known from the ''{{Outlander}}'' series.

* YouAllMeetAtAnInn: The "Bird in the Barley" Inn. This place serves as a meeting place on a number of occasions, and is also the place where the rebels plan their course of action, as well as the scene for the wedding of Jonathan and Mary.

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Mary. She got transported, not because of evil intent, but because she wished to help her family get their cow back. She is one of the most morally upright persons in the entire series and gets everyone´s respect for it.

The rebellion in Ireland of 1798 kills of many dreams of a free Ireland, and Mary is advised to stay on in Australia, where she eventually marries Jonathan and builds a farm with him. The rum corps, however, puts the entire New South Wales under strict military rule, which angers both the settlers and the convicts, and the Irish convicts rebels in 1804. The rebellion is struck down, and many of the rebels are shot or hanged for it.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Discussed from the very first episode and onwards, first by Mary´s father, and then by Mary herself. She gets tired of all the pointless rebellions after all, mostly because she cannot bear to see her own friends and countrymen get killed and hanged (or, as is shown on the ship to Australia) flogged to death. The constant discussion on different ways to win freedom is a classical left-wing trait.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Mary. She got transported, not because of evil intent, but because she wished to help her family get their cow back. She is one of the most morally upright persons in the entire series and gets everyone´s respect for it.

** On the female side we have Polly, who actuually uses her finger nails against mr Greville while still on the ship to australia.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Discussed from the very first episode and onwards, first by Mary´s father, and then by Mary herself. She gets tired of all the pointless rebellions after all, mostly because she cannot bear to see her own friends and countrymen get killed and hanged (or, as is shown on the ship to Australia) flogged to death. The constant discussion on different ways to win freedom is a classical left-wing trait.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Mary. She got transported, not because of evil intent, but because she wished to help her family get their cow back. She is one of the most morally upright persons in the entire series and gets everyone´s respect for it.

* BilingualBonus: The Irish do drop some gaelic phrases on occasion. In conversation one of the rebels can be heard discussing "the sasneag", a word better known from the ''series/{{Outlander}}'' series.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Discussed from the very first episode and onwards, first by Mary´s father, and then by Mary herself. She gets tired of all the pointless rebellions after all, mostly because she cannot bear to see her own friends and countrymen get killed and hanged (or, as is shown on the ship to Australia) flogged to death. The constant discussion on different ways to win freedom is a classical left-wing trait.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Mary. She got transported, not because of evil intent, but because she wished to help her family get their cow back. She is one of the most morally upright persons in the entire series and gets everyone´s respect for it.

* EvilBrit: Played with. Greville is the most prominent example of this trope, although Chester is not. The rum corps at large has some rather sinister members.
* FightingIrish: Oh dear. The Irish rebels do the same mistakes over, and over, ''and over''. Mary, who is a hapless witness to all this, gets more and more resentful. As it is, she ends up a SourSupporter of the last rebellion, having witnessed too many of her friends and countrymen being soundly executed over the curse of the series. Dinny is probably the most prominent example of the trope. Street smart, but foolhardy.

* ShoutOut: Dinny, when discussing rebellion, clearly states that he has nothing to lose but his chains. In this series he utters this in 1804, a good 14 years before KarlMarx was born, and a good 44 years before he actually wrote it down.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Discussed from the very first episode and onwards, first by Mary´s father, and then by Mary herself. She gets tired of all the pointless rebellions after all, mostly because she cannot bear to see her own friends and countrymen get killed and hanged (or, as is shown on the ship to Australia) flogged to death. The constant discussion on different ways to win freedom is a classical left-wing trait.

* GreatOffscreenWar: TheNapoleonicWars, fought on the other side of the world.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Colonel Chester. Although in charge of the farm Mary and Jonathan is assigned to, he is not a bad man, and sets the more dubious people in place, among them his own wife Louisa, who schemes against Mary.

* DoomedToFail: The convict rebellion of 1804.