Characters include Captain Arthur Phillip, Watkin Tench, John Hunter and Midshipman Southwell.
[3] Leslie Rees called it "a slight play, a single incident of the earliest days of Sydney...
It is a picture of the near-defeat of a community, of the hysteria, nostalgia, individual rebellion, resignation and steely withering self-control all called forth by a desperate occasion.
"[5] Reviewing a 1940 radio production, "Jonathan" from Wireless Weekly said the writers "have produced a work of distinction without having recourse to any strong plot.
A few words in this play would have become a page of script in less skilful hands... Acting, timing and production throughout were without fault.