"From distant climes, o’er wide-spread seas we come, Though not with much eclat or beat of drum, True patriots all; for be it understood, We left our country for our country’s good; No private views disgrac’d our generous zeal, What urg’d our travels was our country’s weal; And none will doubt but that our emigration Has prov’d most useful, to the British nation." Set in 1787, it tells the true story of a group of convicts transported to Australia who, faced with the appalling realities of life in a penal colony, come together to rehearse and perform a play.