"A convict's tour to hell" By Frank The Poet
Spoken By Peter O'Shaughnessy

"A convict's tour to hell" By Frank The Poet
Spoken By Peter O'Shaughnessy

Here's the late celebrated veteran Australian actor,director,folklorist,and author Peter O'shaughnessy (1923 - 2013) giving us his definitive performance of "A convict's tour to hell" By Frank The Poet

I have just read the sad news that Peter passed away on the 17th July 2013 After a short illness aged 89..

Frank the Poet (ca. 1810--1861) (real name Francis MacNamara[1]) was a convict, transported to New South Wales from Ireland, who composed cheeky improvised verse expressing the convict's point of view. In 1832 he was convicted of larceny, and sentenced to seven years transportation. He was a troublesome convict who often absconded and received an extended sentence as well as floggings and other punishments, and was finally sent to the dread Port Arthur in Van Diemen's Land. He received a ticket of leave 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.[2]
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. Except for one longer poem, his verse was passed among convicts by word of mouth. Some of his ballads and epigrams survive in manuscript form in the Mitchell Library, Sydney, having been written down in the late nineteenth century. The popular ballad Moreton Bay or A Convict's Lament,[3] often sung in Australian primary schools, has also 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.[4]
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. Not liking the look of Hell, Frank first seeks admission to Purgatory but Pope Pius VII refuses him admittance, explaining Limbo was invented by priests and Popes for their own exclusive use. He then tries Hell where he sees many of his former jailers, such as Captain Logan, as well as Governor Darling and Captain Cook (condemned for discovering New South Wales) - before the Devil 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 admits him to Heaven on the say so of several residents such as Bold Jack Donahue (a convict who turned bushranger).[5]
Francis MacNamara died on Mudgee on 28 August 1861. News of his death was carried in three newspapers in New South Wales, the Western Post 31 August, the Empire 4 September and the Maitland Mercury 7 September [6]
On 5 August 2012 ABC Radio National broadcast "Frank the Poet - A Convict's Tour to Hell"

Peter O'Shaughnessy OAM (born 1923), actor, theatre director, and producer, has presented the work of playwrights ranging from Shakespeare, Shaw, Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov to modern dramatists, such as Ionesco, Pinter and Beckett. He is best known as mentor to and collaborator with Barry Humphries in his early career. O'Shaughnessy was a major exponent of Samuel Beckett, both in Australia and in Ireland. He produced the first Waiting for Godot in Australia in 1957. He played Krapp in the Australian premier of Krapp's Last Tape at the Arts Theatre in Melbourne in 1959. He also toured a second production of Godot in Sydney and Canberra in 1969, and later directed the Irish premières of Not I (1978),Footfalls (1978) and Rockaby (1984), and the unofficial world premiers of Theatre I and Theatre II (later published in modified form as Rough for Theatre I and II) in Cambridge in 1977.[1]
He is also notable for one-act performances of Diary of a Madman, adapted from Gogol. In 1968 he collaborated with Graeme Inson and Russel Ward on an illustrated anthology, The Restless Years, based on his award-winning television program of the same name. After making significant inroads to bring Shakespeare to Australian audiences in the 1960s, his Australian career was cut short after a libellous review published in the The Australian by Katharine Brisbane. After a trial and an unsuccessful appeal, the case was ultimately determined in the High Court of Australia where he was vindicated.[2] However, he could no longer work in Australia. In 1970 he left for London and continued to act in and direct Shakespeare in the UK and Ireland. For The British Council he has lectured on the plays of Shakespeare to universities in many countries of Europe, and in West Africa and South America. As a historian, his two books on General Joseph Holt and his book on John Mitchel are significant contributions to Australian/Irish history

Kind Regards

Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2013

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2013-05-14 T10:15:08.000Z
1839, October

video, moving image

CFM.11.115

1839,