CONVICT MAID

Convict Maid

Ye London maids attend to me
While I relate my misery
Through London streets I oft have strayed
But now I am a Convict Maid

In innocence I once did live
In all the joy that peace could give
But sin my youthful heart betrayed
And now I am a Convict Maid

To wed my lover I did try
To take my master's property
So all my guilt was soon displayed
And I became a Convict Maid

Then I was soon to prison sent
To wait in fear my punishment
When at the bar I stood dismayed
Since doomed to be a Convict Maid

At length the Judge did me address
Which filled with pain my aching breast
To Botany Bay you will be conveyed
For seven years a Convict Maid

For seven long years oh how I sighed
While my poor mother loudly cried
My lover wept and thus he said
May God be with my Convict Maid

To you that hear my mournful tale
I cannot half my grief reveal
No sorrow yet has been portrayed
Like that of the poor Convict Maid
Far from my friends and home so dear

My punishment is most severe
My woe is great and I'm afraid
That I shall die a Convict Maid
I toil each day in greaf and pain
And sleepless through the night remain
My constant toils are unrepaid
And wretched is the Convict Maid

Oh could I but once more be free
I'd never again a captive be
But I would seek some honest trade
And never become a Convict Maid

‘The Convict Maid’ is a traditional Australian folk song, which is why I have picked it, because of it’s similarities to the characters of ‘The Secret River’. The convict maid talks about her doing the wrong thing, and being sent to Australia, and her sorrow of not being able to see her family and friends for a very long time. She wishes to go back home as soon as possible. Through the song, it shows that she never does forgive herself, and the mistake she made haunts her for the rest of her life.

This song is very similar to the characters William and Sal Thornhill, in ‘The Secret River’. Will too, made a bad mistake, he was caught stealing, and also sent to Australia, with his wife, Sal. Will, although he seems not to mind being in Australia, Sal dreams of one day being able to go home to England, and be with her family once again.
Like the convict maid, Will, who did some bad things in his life, never quite forgave himself for what he put himself and his family through, and that haunted him for the rest of his life.





By Steph