Really interested at the start of this. I felt the story progressed too quickly, and the characters developed at an unnecessary rate. Also... why kill off Tommy at the end?! What a waste, and an empty way to leave the show!!

I can't believe the people slagging off this TV series as being historically inaccurate. If it was to stick to the true letter of historical accounts then it wouldn't be called a "drama" series, it would be a rather dull documentary. Instead this series attempts to draw the viewer into a plausible set of scenarios and relationships that develop as the convicts and marines get to know each other in their new home. Having watched the behind the scenes from the DVD, the writer explains that the absence of Aboriginal contacts in the show was to avoid only paying token reference to them here and there and focus on the narrative of the main characters. Perhaps if a second season is able to get funding then there may be more scope to introduce the aspects of interactions with the aborigines and hopefully show them to be the peaceful people that they are, albeit conflicted by the encroachment of their resources and lands, and the abuse of their women at the hands of brutal marines. This was a really enjoyable series and I only hope an opportunity arises for season 2 to be produced. Great acting by all involved and very realistic sets. Curious to know where the outdoor scenes were was filmed. It's a beautiful area.

As a person who was born in Australia and spent all of my life here, all I have to say is that we should be ashamed of not supporting the first drama depicting colonization that even rates a mention. Even though indigenous Australians were not depicted in the first season, i'm sure they would have been included in the seasons to follow, if not I may have lost interest in this TV series but it was barely given a chance. One season is surely not enough time to introduce a foreign people the main characters know little about if you want to focus on their stories. This show was the first chance for the story of Australia to become known to the rest of the world, and now we will never know what the impact of that would have been.

Only one thing to say. WHERE ARE THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE? Another example of "terra nullius" i.e. the British legal confection that assumed that the Australian continent was not occupied at time of contact; this legal lie was finally laid to rest by the Mabo Decision in the High Court of Australia in 1992. This is a poorly researched "history" which misses out the most important point of British colonial expansion into this country i.e. dispossession of the Indigenous people - not to mention perpetuating the fabrication that this country was not occupied. All the early journals (e.g. Watkin Tench, John White) have pages and pages of observations of Aboriginal life so - obviously - the two populations were interacting from day one. So, WHERE ARE THEY?? Scandalous.