In February 1835 the 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment started its voyage from England, twenty-three ships in all, bound for New South Wales in Australia. Here they were to remain until 1842, when they left for India.
The 28ths headquarters was at Parramatta, now a suburb of Sydney, but contingents were despatched elsewhere in New South Wales and Queensland, including Hassans Wells, Illawarra, Tonrang, Harpers Hill, Enim Plain, Seventeen Mile Hollow, Newcastle, Maitland, Bloxland Station, Port Philip and Moreton Bay.
Australia proved to be quite congenial to some, and the Naval and Military Gazette of February 1838 reported that:
The Officers of this [28th] Regiment have been less disgusted with banishment to New South Wales than others have been; for we observe that already a considerable portion have settled in the Colony, and twelve more are about to retire from service for that purpose.
It was not just from amongst the officers of the 28th that new colonists were found for this outpost of Empire. Before the 28th left in 1842, all old soldiers with at least seventeen years service and being of good character were offered the chance of a years salary and 300 acres of land to settle in Australia. It was an opportunity that many could not turn down.
Recreational pursuits amongst the Regiment in Australia included putting on concerts and theatrical performances, and one popular hobby with the men was to produce scrimshaw work on powder horns, some of which survive today.
But there was serious and less congenial work to be undertaken. Convicts were employed in construction work, building roads and clearing forests, and they needed supervision. Sometimes, parties of soldiers were sent into the interior, to protect farmers and other settlers from the depredations of escaped criminals, the so-called bushrangers.
Also managed to stab myself on a badge that I found which came from the school across the road, didn't put that in the picture for obvious reasons. 
