Frank the Poet

He often absconded and received an extended sentence as well as floggings and other punishments, and was finally sent to the dreaded Port Arthur in Van Diemen's Land.

[3] He versified from the start of his convict career: treating the court to an extempore epigram about being sent to Botany Bay, and composing a mock-heroic poem about his case during the voyage out.

The popular ballad Moreton Bay or A Convict's Lament,[4] often sung in Australian primary schools, has been attributed to Frank the Poet.

[5] In A Convict's Tour to Hell Frank dies during captivity and, assuming there is no place for him in heaven, heads downwards, setting up camp by the River Styx, until Charon offers him a free fare on account of his reputation.

[7] In the Jerilderie Letter (1879), bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly paraphrases lines from MacNamara's poems, describing the torture of Irish convicts in Australia.