Van Diemen's Land

Van Diemen's Land or Henry the Poacher, Young Henry's Downfall, Beware Young Men (Roud 221). is an English transportation ballad. It was widely published in broadsides during the 19th century, and was collected from traditional singers in England during the twentieth century. It has been recorded by many singers influenced by the British folk revival. It is a cautionary tale describing the fate of a man convicted of poaching and sentenced to transportation to the British penal colony in Van Diemen's Land, (modern day Tasmania). There is another song also called "Van Diemen's Land" which has been collected in England, Scotland, Ireland and the USA. It has a different story and tune. This song is also called "The Gallant Poachers", "The Poacher's Song" and "Poacher Joe". Synopsis Henry, the narrator, asks "wild and wicked youths" to listen to "the fate of our poor transports, as you shall understand, the hardships they do undergo upon Van Diemen's Land". The narrator describes his upbringing in Warwickshire, Worcestershire or Lancashire ("My parents reared me tenderly, good learning they give to me"), and introduces himself, and then tells us how he and three (or five) companions were arrested while poaching, tried at the Assizes, ("We being old offenders it made our case more hard") and sentenced to 14 years transportation.