Come all you wild and wicked youths wherever you may be
I pray you give attention and listen unto me
I was brought up in Warwickshire, my parents raised me well
My name it is young Henry, a tale to you I'll tell
I and five more went one night to Squire Dunhill's park
All hoping we could get some game, the night it did prove dark
But to our great misfortune, we were trepanned with speed
And sent away to Warwick gaol, which caused my heart to bleed
It was at the March assizes, to the bar we did repair
Like Job we stood with patience to hear our sentence there
Being caught with old offenders, our case it did go hard
My sentence was for fourteen years, I was quickly sent on board
The ship that bore us from the land, the Speedwell was her name
For full five months and upwards, oh, we ploughed the raging Main
No land, no harbour did we see, believe me it's no lie
Around us swamp black water, above is wan blue sky
The very day we landed upon the fateful shore
The ranchers they stood 'round us, oh, twenty score or more
They ranked us up like horses and they sold us out of hand
And yoked us to the plough right there, upon Van Diemen's Land
It's often when I sleep at night and have a pleasant dream
My pretty girl, I rove abroad, through field and sparkling stream
Yes, in England I've been robbed of her at my right hand
But I wake up broken hearted here, upon Van Diemen's Land
And although the poor of England pay their end in toil
Robbed of every consequence, produce of the soil
Their proud, imperious landlord, if you paid rent and then
Sent you off on British hulks to foul Van Diemen's Land
Ohhhh