A young tortoise narrates the tale of his dangerous journey on a transportation ship bound for Australia in 1861, and his friendship with a convict boy. Leopold, a young tortoise, is cruelly taken by sailors from his island home. All alone and frightened, he soon finds himself on board a convict ship bound for Australia, as the ship's mascot. He meets and is cared for, by a convict boy called Tom Carey. Tom has been unjustly convicted of a crime he...