‘Death or liberty’

A film telling the story of 3,000 political prisoners moved to Australia has had its Welsh premiere.

Death or Liberty looks at how the British government sent people there in the 18th and 19th Centuries so they could no longer be heard.

It was feared if they were hanged for treason they would become martyrs.

The film was shown at the Atrium in Cardiff, and Cwtsh in Newport on Thursday and Monmouth’s Shire Hall on Friday.

It is directed by Billy Bragg and based on a book by Tony Moore.

Among the exiled rebels, radicals and reformers are the south Wales chartists John Frost and Zephaniah Williams.

Their death sentences for treason for their part in the Newport Rising were commuted to life transportation at the start of Queen Victoria’s reign.

“They suffer quite badly. They voyage out and then they’re at Port Arthur, which is a kind of maximum security jail,” Dr Moore told Sunday Supplement.

“Zephaniah Williams has a bad trot there – he’s sent down to the coal mines and tries to escape or is accused of escaping and goes into solitary confinement.

“Frost fares a little better, his skills as a clerk and knowledge are put to use but he gets to observe the harsh punishments… interestingly Frost becomes a major advocate against transportation.

“So his political significance does not diminish by being sent to Australia.”