The poem was originally published in The Bulletin on 17 December 1958, and later in this 275 copy Talkarra Press limited edition, signed by the author.
[1] The poem is based on the uprising of Irish rebel convicts at Castle Hill, New South Wales in 1804.
It concerns two main characters, Martin Mason surgeon, and overseer of the brutal flogging of the poet's namesake, Morris Fitzgerral.
On the general level is the problem of the nation adapting to its development from a 'jail-yard'; on the personal level is the problem of individual Australians (in this case the poet himself) adapting to both sides of their ancestry, authoritarianism and rebellion against authority.
"[2] The convict Morris Fitzgerral also appears in Thomas Keneally's novel Passenger (1979).