Francis MacNamara (ca. 1810 - 28 August 1861), known as Frank the Poet, was an Irish writer, a

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as " prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former conv ...

transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she w ...

to the Colony of New South Wales, Australia from

Cashel, County Tipperary Cashel (; ) is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 4,422 in the 2016 census. The town gives its name to the ecclesiastical province of ''Cashel''. Additionally, the ''cathedra'' of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, he composed improvised verse expressing the convict's point of view.

Transportation

MacNamara in 1832 was convicted of larceny, and sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia. 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 Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sep ...

. He received a

ticket of leave A ticket of leave was a document of parole issued to convicts who had shown they could now be trusted with some freedoms. Originally the ticket was issued in Britain and later adapted by the United States, Canada, and Ireland. Jurisdictions ...

in 1847 and his freedom in 1849, after which there is little record of his life. His verse suggests he was an educated person with strong political convictions.

Writings

He versified from the start of his convict career: treating the court to an extempore epigram about being sent to

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

, and composing a mock-heroic poem about his case during the voyage out. Except for one longer poem, his verse was passed among convicts by word of mouth. Some of his

ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

and

epigrams An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two millen ...

survive in manuscript form in the

Mitchell Library The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland. History The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...

, Sydney, having been written down in the late nineteenth century. The popular ballad '' Moreton Bay or A Convict's Lament'', often sung in Australian primary schools, has been attributed to Frank the Poet. His published work, ''A Convict's Tour to Hell'' was written in October 1839 while he worked as a shepherd at Stroud. 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 In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whi ...

, until Charon offers him a free fare on account of his reputation. Not liking the look of Hell, Frank first seeks admission to

Purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

but Pope Pius VII refuses him admittance, explaining that

Limbo In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin '' limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Euro ...

was invented by priests and popes for their own exclusive use. He then tries Hell, where he sees many of his former jailers, including the brutal

Captain Logan Captain Logan ( 1776 – November 25, 1812), also known as Spemica Lawba ("High Horn"), James Logan, or simply Logan, was a Shawnee warrior who lived in what became the U.S. state of Ohio. Although he opposed the expansion of the United States ...

, as well as Governor Darling and

Captain Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

(condemned for discovering

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

) – before the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

sends him to join the rest of the poor and downtrodden in Heaven, as Hell was made just for the 'Grandees of the Land'.

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

admits him to Heaven on the say-so of several residents, such as Bold

Jack Donahue John Donahue (c. 1806 – 1 September 1830), also spelled Donohoe, and known as Jack Donahue and Bold Jack Donahue, was an Irish-born bushranger in Australia between 1825 and 1830. He became part of the notorious "Wild Colonial Boys". Early l ...

(a convict who turned bushranger).

Death and legacy

Francis MacNamara died in

Mudgee Mudgee is a town in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council local government area as well as being th ...

on 28 August 1861. News of his death was carried in three newspapers in New South Wales, the ''Western Post'' on 31 August, the ''Empire'' on 4 September and the ''

Maitland Mercury The ''Maitland Mercury'' is Australia's third oldest regional newspaper, preceded only by the '' Geelong Advertiser'' (estab. 1840) and the ''Launceston Examiner'' (estab. 1842). The ''Maitland Mercury'' was established in 1843 when it was calle ...

'' on 7 September. On 5 August 2012 ABC Radio National broadcast "Frank the Poet - A Convict's Tour to Hell".

References

*Reece, B., ‘Frank the Poet’ in B. Reece (ed), Exiles from Erin (Lond, 1991). {{DEFAULTSORT:Frank the Poet History of New South Wales History of Tasmania Convicts transported to Australia Australian male poets 1810s births 1861 deaths 19th-century Australian poets People from Cashel, County Tipperary Prison writings 19th-century male writers

Transportation

Writings

Death and legacy

See also

References