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1700s: Barnaby Fletch’s life is a series of adventures and misadventures…
South of Darkness
What you need to know before your trail
Barnaby lives on his wits and ill-gotten gains, on the streets of 1700s London. Each day is a fight for survival and survival must come at any price
But then he hears of a paradise on the other side of the world- a place called Botany Bay. the only way to get there it would seem is to commit a crime and get himself transported to a new life.
But before that new life can start, he must survive the trials of Newgate Prison, the stinking hull of a prison ship and the unknown terrors of a journey across the world.
Will Botany Bay live up to Barnaby’s expectations and where does he run to from here if not?
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
1700s London – East Smithfield
“So much of London life was lived below street level”
A thread throughout my childhood was the great church in the district known to the local people as Hell, down by the north bank of the river. Maps of London referred to it by the less offensive epithet East Smithfield
This is a London of beggars, thieves and worse. Hauled to the Bow Street magistrates court and then to the cells of Newgate prison, this life seems to be get worse and worse for the boy until his new life on the ship can begin.
Australia
They’re emptying the hulks and sending them out to Botany Bay. This was a common event in 18700s London where hundreds of prisoners would be sent to a new life to life and work on the colonies.
The journey itself is full of trauma with bad weather storms and sickness. Giant hailstones too. The journey is also one of interest as they sail close to the island where Captain Cook was killed near here and that the Indians in NSW had some frightening weapons with which they would kill you.
He imagines it to be a garden of Eden but there are men with scars here and a landscape that is not what it appears to be.
Streetview Maps
A) London - St George In The East Church
D) Australia - Botany Bay
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: South of Darkness
Author/Guide John Marsden Destination: London, Sydney Departure Time:1700s
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