Apud John R. Yamamoto-Wilson <john@rarebooksinjapan.org> (fj.life.in-japan) hoc legimus:
>Otter wrote:

>> Sorry.  We only allow in people of quality.

>So times have changed since your great-great grandfather's day, eh?

So wrong. The "we" then didn't get any say; the Poms just forced their
way in at gunpoint and began unloading their jails.

Actually the Brits seem a bit obsessed about the original European
settlement of Australia being a penal one, and it seems many are
convinced that all Australians are descended from convicts. When I was
in the UK earlier this year two acquaintances made comments which were
based on the assumption that I was descended from them.

In fact about 170,000 people were transported to Australia, which is a
very small proportion of the approx. 6 million people who have arrived
since 1788. Also relatively few of the 170,000 got much chance to
breed. Most were male, many died in prison, and many returned to 
Britain after serving their sentences. Even in the early (pre-gold
rush) days free settlers greatly outnumbered convicts. Current estimates
are that 3-5% of the Australian population has one or more ancestors
who were convicts.

-- 
Jim Breen        http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/
Clayton School of Information Technology,
Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia 
ジム・ブリーン@モナシュ大学