The inhabitants include Macarthur's wife, Private Evans, and a convict, Bob Squires, who has good relations with the local aboriginal population.
[3] Michael Craig called it "a wonderful script; macabre, funny, tragic and optimistic, and extremely well directed by Julian Pringle.
"[4] The music score was written by Peter Sculthorpe with Michael Hannan and David Matthews.
It was adapted from an Aboriginal melody "Djilile" (whistling-duck on a billabong) from a recording collected in northern Australia in the late 1950s.
Sculthorpe further developed the music as a 15-minute, six-part piece titled "Port Essington" which was commissioned by Musica Viva Australia for the Australian Chamber Orchestra and first performed at the University of Queensland in August 1977.