Adventures Down Under by Robert Elmer (Complete book set)

From Book 1 in the series of 8:

Alone in a wild land, thousands of miles from home… Twelve-year-old Patrick McWaid’s world is turned upside down when his father is framed for a crime and sent on the last prison ship to Australia in 1867. Desperate to keep his family together, the McWaids decide to find passage on another ship headed “down under.” But leaving Dublin, Ireland, means leaving the only home they’ve ever known. And what will they do when they reach Australia? Then Patrick learns his grandfather was sent to Australia thirty years earlier. No one has head from him in years, but perhaps the senior McWaid might help them—if only they can find him. Their hopes high, Patrick and his family set sail. What kind of new life will they find?

*Complete set of 8 books*