According to this article, Banished is the first commision for BBC First channel, which broadcasts in Australia.

The series described as fast-paced, “epic and ambitious” by the BBC will open in 1788 New South Wales and focus on the lives, loves and relationships of the exiled convicts and the marines who guarded them in the early days of settlement. BBC Worldwide Australia and New Zealand and BBC Two have co-commissioned the series to screen on BBC First next year. Filming will start in Sydney in April and then move to Manchester in the UK.

The Australian Daily Telegraph has a brilliant article about one of the filming locations being set up at Manly Dam, along with photos.

BBC Worldwide Australia and New Zealand is preparing the set of `Banished’, a seven part fictional series inspired by the First Fleet’s arrival in Sydney and the struggles settlers faced.

A production crew has built a wooden hut and setup tents on the western shore of the Dam, which will be portrayed as Sydney Cove in 1788. The series opens at the location, before telling the tale of the convicts’ relationships and battle for survival in unfamiliar surrounds.

In a publicity announcement for the series, the BBC said of the scene: “It is here that the convicts transported on the First Fleet and their masters are waking up to another sweltering hot day in a place where anything can happen and death stalks everyone. “With supplies running out and ill-equipped for life on this inhospitable shoreline, who will survive the next ten days.”

Wenham plays Governor Arthur Phillip, who tries to build the colony despite the opposition of nemesis Major Ross.