Hi all. I did a rough count and came up with about 820 men and women who had been tried in Lincoln/Lincolnshire between 1784 and 1847 and were lucky enough to obtain a free passage down under. This number does not include those fortunate enough to have been chosen to populate the idyllic isle of Tasmania after 1824. This is not to say that all 820 were from Lincolnshire or that some of the more nimble fingered Lincolnshire lads and lasses did not venture further afield and were nicked elsewhere. However not all who made the journey from Lincs to Oz were cons. The ship ‘SS Norseman’ made the journey from London to Sydney in 1911. On board were my Kirkstead born grandparents and a young five year old lad, my father. Terry Blue Mountains, Australia.