The first of several cinematic adaptations of Marcus Clarke's classic and complex story, first published as His Natural Life, this version is essentially a collection of highlights. The screenplay is also heavily based on the popular stage version from a few years earlier. The Bulletin records in this respect that while the storyline had been 'severely edited, [the] boiling-down was evidently done by a man who knew his business, for the continuity of the yarn is quite unbroken' (ctd. in Pike and Cooper p.11).
The screenplay begins in England with the murder for which Rufus Dawes is wrongfully arrested, tried, and eventually found guilty. He is then sentenced to life as a convict in Van Diemen's Land, and it is from this point on that the story sees the bitter and harsh life that he is forced to endure. He later escapes and embarks on a voyage to freedom, while also encountering his long-lost love, Sylvia. The boat sinks, however, and the pair drown while holding each other in an eternal embrace.
