A shared past creates a collective memory of people, as so the convict history of Australia is present in tales, songs and even words of everyday speech. This piece in an excerpt from my Bachelor’s thesis and it is going to introduce the British convict transportation to Australia in order to provide background for the examination of the general features and categories of popular cultural Australian convict and bushranging ballads from the early 1800s to the mid-nineteenth century with the help of selected pieces from widely used anthologies of Australian literature. During the investigation of the upcoming discourse one perceived an impression of the depth and width of Australian folklore and on the drives of formation of collective consciousness of the people inhabiting the continent. Compared to the ballads themselves the analysis lead to the conclusion that the convict ballad culture does not really provide us with documentary information of the contemporary life of felony in the level as expected – such as broad poverty and continuous punishment in penal institutions – but rather provide reactions on the hierarchical situation and a rebellion against the actual authorities – like magistrates, governors or the wealthy in general, whom the low-class people as the majority convicts could blame for their desperate situation and causing them to turn towards crime.