subs. phr. (university).—1. Worcester College Oxford: on account of its remote situation as regards other collegiate buildings. A certain portion of Trinity College, Dublin: for the same reason.
1841. LEVER, Charles O’Malley, xx., note. BOTANY BAY was the slang name given by college men to a new square, rather remotely situated from the remainder of the college [i.e., Trinity, Dublin].
1853. REV. E. BRADLEY (‘Cuthbert Bede’), The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman, I., 63. A name given to W. College, from its being the most distant college.
2. (thieves’ and prison).—Penal servsitude. Formerly convicts [1787–1867] were transported to BOTANY BAY, a convict settlement at the Antipodes. Hence TO GO TO BOTANY BAY = to be in for a long term of imprisonment.
