Morgan's Run
Encyclopedia

The book

Morgan's Run is a historical novel by Colleen McCullough
Colleen McCullough
Colleen McCullough-Robinson, , is an internationally acclaimed Australian author.-Life:McCullough was born in Wellington, in outback central west New South Wales, in 1937 to James and Laurie McCullough. Her mother was a New Zealander of part-Māori descent. During her childhood, her family moved...

 published in 2000 about the life of an English
Englishman
Englishman may refer to:*English people*Grey Partridge*Jason Englishman, Canadian rock music singer and guitarist*Jenny-Bea Englishman, real name of the Canadien singer Esthero*Erald Briscoe, reggae musician who records under the name Englishman...

 prisoner driven to the first penal colonies
Penal colony
A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...

 in Australia in the 18th century. Much of the novel is set in the penal colony on Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...

 It starts off with the prisoners life in Bristol England and describes in detail of his survival of the transportation on a prison ship to Norfolk Island and how he dared to hope in the hard life of a convict on Norfolk Island.

The musical

The book has been adapted into a musical by Colleen McCullough and composer Gavin Lockley The musical's debut was over 8 shows in the Springwood Civic Centre
Springwood, New South Wales
Springwood is a town in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia. Springwood is located 72 kilometres west of Sydney in the local government area of the City of Blue Mountains. At the 2006 census, Springwood had a population of 8,210 people. It is largely Anglo-Celtic.Springwood is near the...

 by the Blue Mountains Musical Society with a cast of 32, a small classical orchestra, a harpsichord, and a rock drum kit. These performances were organised in support of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and attended by the Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency, Professor Marie Bashir
Marie Bashir
Marie Roslyn Bashir AC, CVO is the present Governor of New South Wales since 2001 and also the Chancellor of the University of Sydney since 2007. Born in Narrandera, New South Wales, Bashir graduated from the University of Sydney in 1956 and held various medical positions, with a particular...

AC, CVO.

Gavin Lockley worked closely with Colleen McCullough and spent most of 2010 on Norfolk Island, the penal colony to which the musical's main character Richard Morgan was sent. Lockley's previous works including The Symphony of Australia and Ballads of the Bush have sought to express the history and essence of the nation and create a distinctive national musical heritage. Whilst Ballads of the Bush sets popular Australian verse to music, and the Symphony of Australia celebrates a nation, Morgan's Run is a narrative about the founding of a nation and its character.
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