Barry Stone

A very readable history of an important group of Australian pioneers - Graham Seal, author of the bestselling Great Australian Stories For the early settlers who came from Britain's crowded cities and tiny villages, it must have been extraordinarily liberating to pack their belongings onto a bullock dray and head beyond the reach of meddlesome authorities to claim new land...

On Christmas Eve in 1882, an impromptu game of cricket was organised between the touring English Cricket team and a local side in the grounds of Rupertswood, a 50-room Italianate mansion in Sunbury, a 30-minute drive north of Melbourne. At dinner that night, Rupertswood's owner, Lady Janet Clark, marked the visitors' victory by presenting the English captain, Ivo Bligh, with...