Gaskin had spent two years researching the book, which was inspired by the true story of Mary Reibey, a woman convict who married an officer while travelling to Australia, went on to become a successful businesswoman in her own right, and whose image has been featured since 1994 on the Australian $20 note.

[4] Film rights were sold and Gaskin announced in 1955 that a movie version would be made at Elstree Studios the following year, but this did not occur.

Stripped of her convict rags, bathed and decently dressed, Sara is surprisingly attractive and proves to be well educated and intelligent.

Sara has now achieved the height of her social status and power - she is the wealthiest woman in the Colony of Australia who no longer can be ignored and insulted.

So Sara once again sails halfway across the world to Australia again, but this time by choice: not as a convicted thief, but as a woman of wealth, power and status.

[8] In 1980 it was announced that the South Australian Film Corporation would make a mini-series of the novel for Network Ten, possibly starring Judy Morris and Sam Neill.