[2] The Hobart Mercury said "The play scarcely is entertaining, except for those familiar with early Tasmanian history.
However, as an historical work commissioned for the Commonwealth Jubilee, it is a splendid documentary of five years in the lives of Sir John and Lady Franklin in Hobart Town.
[4][5] Writer Leslie Rees said "It gave a picture, too diffuse in its stage original, of the Tasmanian capital as Lieutenant-Governor Franklin and his remarkable wife knew it, and dramatized the conflict with the Colonial Secretary, Montagu, a contest of wills that led to the recall of Franklin to Britain.
"[4] According to ABC Weekly "the Franklins had faced the dangers and privations of exploration; now that Sir John was Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania his enemy was petty malice and intrigue.
The Colonial Secretary, Mr. Montagu, was his most dangerous enemy, and in this play Catherine Shepherd tells of his struggle to humble the Franklins.