Moreton Bay is one of the oldest of Australian folk-songs and reminiscent of the English and Irish ballads of the early 1800's. This is a strangely beautiful song on the cruel penal conditions prevailing at that time and the inhumanity of man's treatment of man. There are some very poetic lines giving lie to an educated hand e.g.
    "My back with floggings was lacerated,
    And often painted with my crimson gore."
or
    "Like the Egyptians and ancient Hebrews
    We were oppressed under Logan's yoke"
This folk-song can also be found in The Bushwackers Australian Song Book.

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