'Some poems are reprinted for the first time since their original publication; in particular, poetry about the Irish Famine published in Australian newspapers in the 1840s. Poems from the Fenian prisoners on board the Hougoumont, the last convict ship to Australia, are here reprinted from the original handwritten versions in their newspaper The Wild Goose.'
(Source: Flier advertising the launch of the book at the Celtic Club, Melbourne, 25 May 2001. The speaker at the launch was Penelope Buckley).
With title: Botany Bay Courtship
Tune: The Irish Washerwoman
'Reprinted 25 May, 4, with [a report on] an angry letter from Harpur protesting against editor's changes and the poem in its original form.' (Webby)
The first published version of this poem, printed in the Morning Chronicle newspaper on the 11 May 1844, was extensively altered by the Chronicle's editor.
Charles Harpur's correct version of the poem is published in the Morning Chronicle 25 May 1844 alongside the editor's altered version of the poem and a column apologising for but defending the editor's alterations.
For more information on Harpur's dispute with the editor of the Morning Chronicle see J. Normington-Rawling, Charles Harpur, An Australian (Angus & Robertson, 1962): 98-99.
