This book, reissued following the televising of Mr Wroe's Virgins, tells the story of the struggle of marine lieutenant William Dawes on behalf of the aborigines in 18th-century New South Wales. The story of his arrival in the Antipodes to build an observatory, reform the convicts and understand the Aborigines, is interwoven with the story of Olla and Stephen, coping in their different ways with the birth of a handicapped child, Daniel. His mother believes Daniel has extraordinary powers; his father knows he is a helpless cripple and is kept from despair by his work on the story of Dawes, a good man who will be subject to many temptations.