Botany Bay (song)

"Botany Bay" is a song that can be traced back to the musical burlesque, Little Jack Sheppard, staged at the Gaiety Theatre, London, England, in 1885 and in Melbourne, Australia, in 1886.

The show was written by Henry Pottinger Stephens and William Yardley, with music composed and arranged by Wilhelm Meyer Lutz.

A song "Botany Bay", catalogued by the British Library as from the 1780s and described as "sung by the Anacreontic Society", has no obvious connection, being concerned with Cook's landing rather than the subsequent deportation of convicts.

Oh, had I the wings of a turtle-dove, I'd soar on my pinions so high, Straight back[alt 6] to the arms of my Polly love, And in her sweet presence I'd die.

A verse and chorus of the song can also be heard sung by Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov, and Glynis Johns in the 1960 film The Sundowners.

Australian singer Mirusia with Dutch violinist André Rieu performed the song on their album Waltzing Matilda in 2008.