A Short History of Convict Australia is the first ever documentary about Australia's convict past. In this fascinating episode Ian Wright travels from Portsmouth, England, to the former penal colonies of Sarah Island, Norfolk Island and Port Arthur in Australia. He learns how convicts lived and worked, meeting historians and descendants of convicts, and learning about the impact on native Aboriginal groups and the legacy of the dramatic, brutal birth of a nation and the progression of a society that arose from 'rags to riches.'