The people of Ireland expected a good potato crop in 1845..but, when it came to digging up the potatoes, there was only a black gooey mess.

    So Began 'The Great Famine'

   This, along with evictions and sentences of transportation for petty or fabricated crimes, caused millions of Irish to die or to voluntarily or involuntarily take a lengthy, dangerous sea journey to a life in Australia.

   Join the Slavien’s and Reillys as they face the challenges of life in early Nineteenth Century Ireland; and, perhaps just as challenging, life in the new colony of New South Wales, Australia.