Michael is joined each week by Aussie historian, author & entertainer Jim Haynes, for his unique knowledge of the not-so-famous characters from Australia’s history.

This week Jim shines the spotlight on George Barrington – the pocket picking policeman

George Barrington (14 May 1755 – 27 December 1804) was an Irish-born pickpocket, popular London socialite, Australian pioneer (following his transportation to Botany Bay), and author.

His escapades, arrests, and trials were widely chronicled in the London press of his day and for over a century following his death, and still perhaps today, he was most celebrated for the line “We left our country for our country’s good.”

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