[2] The novel follows the experiences of Paddy Doolan, an Irish horse wagoner and his son Michael in the Gulf Country of north-eastern Australia.

[4] Lisa Hill on the ANZLitLovers Litblog noted: "O’Conner won the prize in 1960, in the years of postwar prosperity and well before the Swinging Sixties challenged long-established mores across the globe.

Cities in Australia were being transformed by post-war immigration from Europe and by the growth in manufacturing which was driven by the sudden availability of cheap labour.

O’Conner was writing about what was already a vanished era – the inter-war years when bush life was being transformed by the arrival of the motor-vehicle in the early 1920s.

The film featured Michael Craig, Simon Burke and Robyn Nevin in the lead roles.