Vandemonian Lags

For only the fourth time in twelve years have this stellar cast been gathered together to perform the acclaimed theatrical piece that presents an extraordinary musical journey based on dramatic true stories from Tasmania’s convict past.

Starring Brian Nankervis, Mick Thomas, Tim Rogers, Jeff Lang, Ben Salter, Sal Kimber, Darren Hanlon, Shelley Short, Van Walker and introducing Claire Anne Taylor backed by an all-star band featuring Weddings Parties Anything’s Jen Anderson, Mark Wallace, and Michael Barclay with Craig Pilkington.

It was a centrepiece of the inaugural DARK MOFO festival in Hobart in 2013, last played at Port Fairy Folk Festival in 2019 and is the subject of a concert album and feature film. 

On the mainland, those who hailed from the island Colony were known as 'Vandiemonians' or 'Vandemonians'. The second moniker referenced the place where they had (usually) served time but, as Bruce Moore notes, it also “blended with the word demon. – Caitlin Mahar, 2007

The discovery of gold in Victoria in 1851 gave rise to an amazing exodus from Van Diemen’s Land. Convicts and ex-convicts crossed Bass Strait in their thousands. Many of the ‘Vandemonians’ fell to crime and quickly became hated and feared on the goldfields. In 1852 the Victorian Government passed the Convicts Prevention Act with the express aim of preventing any further introduction of the prison population to the booming colony. Needless to say, the act was a complete failure.  

Far from being a dry historical tutorial or a clutch of warm and earnest folk songs, this is an extraordinary musical and narrative experience. – Beat Magazine (2025)

Drawing 17 vivid, real-life musical stories from the 75,000 convicts transported to Tasmania, Vandemonian Lags deserves its own special place in the annals of Australian folklore. – Patrick McDonald, Adelaide Advertiser (2014)

Vandemonian Lags has broken the shackles of the convict stain and liberated the stories of our convict ancestors! – Ross Latham, Tasmanian State Archivist