Although hundreds of attempts were made, very few prisoners actually succeeded to achieve freedom.
Among them was William Bryant, his wife Mary Bryant, his two children and seven other convicts.
This motley group of prisoners pulled off one of the most incredible sea voyages on an open boat.
William Bryants escape from Australia in 1791.
His crime: impersonating two Royal Navy seamen so that obtain their wages.
Mary Broad arrived in Australia aboard a ship namedCharlotte.
Within a few days of arriving in Port Jackson, William and Mary were married.
Two years later, they had a son named Emmanuel.
William was a fisherman, and this valuable skill afforded him his own huta rare privilege for a convict.
Fearing starvation if they spent another two years in the colony, William and his wife decided to escape.
In December 1790, a Dutch ship namedWaaksamheydarrived with provisions from Batavia (present day Jakarta).
Map showing the approximate route of the escapees from Sydney to Timor.
Often they met with hostilities from Aborigines, who gave them chase in canoes.
But hardly four months passed when suspicion arose and the escaped convicts were imprisoned.
Shortly afterwards, Captain Edward Edwards of HMS Pandora arrived in the settlement.
The governor of Kupang handed Bryant and the others to Captain Edward to take them back to England.
Willian Bryant took ill during the voyage and died in a hospital in Batavia.
His son Emmanuel also didnt survive.
Mary Bryant and those who survived returned back to England and was put on trial.
The punishment for escaping from transportation was generally death, but Mary Bryant was pardoned and released.
Mary returned to her family in Cornwall, where she died two years later.
