I am a collector.

I have a collection of convict love tokens. This one appeared suddenly as a Buy It Now, some years ago, with the classic message When this you see, remember me engraved around two lovers. The lovers gave me goosebumps. I'd seen them before, although I couldn't place where. I hit BUY, my fingers trembling a little at the price. The whole process took maybe 10 seconds.

What I found surprised and delighted me. I believe it is linked to the most famous medallion of all - the Charlotte Medal, commissioned by the chief surgeon on the First Fleet to mark the dropping of anchor at Botany Bay in 1788.   The Charlotte Medal now has pride of place in the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, for its historic importance.

The Charlotte Medal is generally attributed to Thomas Barrett, a convict on the First Fleet. I believe my love token is one of his early works. His early works are yet to be attributed to him; the case for attribution is in my as yet unpublished book CONVICT LOVE TOKENS – and the early works of Thomas Barrett. In seeking the case for attribution, I found the fascinating story of Thomas Barrett, the first man hanged after the landing at Botany Bay.

At the heart of his story is a mystery. The Charlotte Medal is a beautiful work of art, a masterpiece. So why, a few weeks later, is Thomas Barrett the first man hanged, in a dramatic piece of theatre that shocks even the most hardened?

As his dying wish, he asks to speak to his closest friend, and the wish is granted. He also asks to speak to a woman, but is refused. Thomas Barrett and his fellow convicts are real people, at the end of a long and perilous journey into exile. Their stories are true, according to what was written at the time – at their trials at the Old Bailey, and by the journalists on the First Fleet.

All the named characters are real people. Most have nicknames mapped to their proper names. Some, like JEALOUS and GRUBB, keep their real names, which are perfect just as they are.

Who does what, where, and when, are as described in contemporary documents. Only the ‘why’ is surmise.

There are stories of love, lust and betrayal, all true. Holding the stories together is the power and loyalty of the mob – the band of desperate men and women who mutinied from the Mercury in 1784, rather than be sent to America.

They are recaptured, in Book One, and sent to the hulk Dunkirk, to await news of their new destination.

BOTANY BAY.