Take a journey with one of Australia’s most accessible history and science writers into an early Australia that extends beyond the Wild Colonial Boy and the Kelly Gang.

Discover the endearing Moondyne Joe and Diver Fitzgerald, scallywags rather than villains, as well as some who affected a gentlemanly front, a sort of false gallantry that did not sit well with their thieving ways, plus the thugs with no saving graces.