1852 - The discovery of gold at Ballarat has engulfed the fledgling settlement of Victoria, with Melbourne in a mad building boom.

The harbour choked with abandoned ships, crews deserting on hearing the news - gold rush! Other ships arrive crowded with men from gold fields of California, the Yukon, China.

Our story opens with the young Swede Nils Jeppersen, on board a Finnish grain ship anchored out on Port Philip Bay. Denied shore leave, the crew bored, the mood on board is ominous. Deserting, Jeppersen swims ashore.

Reaches land, finds himself in immediate trouble, but is rescued by Dermott O'Neill, Irishman; They team up, and together with their weird companion Trog, leave to seek their fortune. They meet success, but then take part, together with friends both historical and fictional, in that tragic fiasco we now know of as the defense of Eureka Stockade. A sad and mismanaged farce; nevertheless providing the bitter ashes out of which the phoenix of Nationhood ultimately rises.

The second strand of our novel, though interwoven with the first, is set fifty years on. It is the occasion of the visit to Britain by Edmund Barton* and group representing the various Australian States.

They seek acceptance of the Australian plan for Federation and Self Determination. So now a second set of characters come to the fore.

Lachlan Grey a young Australian studying in England, finds himself drawn into a series of events involving European intrigue, and political assassination. A suspected plot is foiled by the ad hoc and unlikely alliance of our young hero and Adrian Fettice of British Intelligence.

A work of fiction, the novel deals with an important period in the development of the nation of Australia. It also involves real historical characters, portrayed as faithfully as possible to their perceived personas.