"[8] Another review from that paper said "Mr. Dampier's rescue of his friend during the sensational explosion in the mine, and the incident in which the police are baffled through the instrumentality of the black boy, who unfastens their saddle girths are amongst the many situations which find favour with the audience.
"[10] Table Talk said Dampier "has never had a part better fitted to his powers than Dick Stewart; he literally dominates the first act and as the lonely wanderer dowered with gold beyond the dreams of avarice, yet on the verge of death from thirst in the maddening glare of the arid plains he rose to a height of tragic intensity which the audience found most convincing.
"[11] Bird of Freedom argued "being a colonial play, its critics have naturally judged it from the Shakespearean standard, and written accordingly.
Of its kind it is one of the best pieces we have witnessed in Sydney, and is likely when certain scenic defects have been got over to prove the most popular Australian play yet written.
"[13] Leslie Rees wrote "Its scenes were set on the ship Westralia nearing Australia’s shores, at Fremantle where the hero is “fortune’s fool”, at Coolgardie where the great gold search is on, near the Great Salt Lake, and on Black Flag Plain.