'The novel is a Robinsonade, in which Spencer is shipwrecked and crosses the continent from north to south then travels east with his horse Tiger, his dog Gipsy, his parrot Charlie and Kinchela, his Aboriginal mentor. The resourceful Captain undergoes every difficulty and privation imaginable, all the time observing the remarkable animals, birds, and insects around him, the scientific names of which are provided for the reader.'
(Source: Oxford Companion to Australian Children's Literature, 1993)
