The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.
* Contents derived from the Melbourne,Victoria,:E. W. Cole,1888 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Young Dick, a digger on the New South Wales goldfields, falls in love with Polly, the local Parson's daughter. However, upon the Parson's death his daughter is sent to distant relatives somewhere in Queensland, where she is treated harshly by her shallow and pretentious relatives, the Dandicrats. Dick, having come into a substantial inheritance, sets out to find Polly and declare his love. He succeeds and they marry, and along the way the Dandicrats are exposed for the fools they are.
Several members of a family, across several generations, have been willing to defy family dictates and forgo their inheritances for the sake of true love. One family member, though, a seemingly misogynistic old bachelor, has managed to collect all the wealth. However, he turns out to be full of suprises.
A young heiress is acutely aware of the attention her promised wealth attracts and rebels against attempts at match-making. However, when a blind violinist accidently runs his bow through her hair, her life takes a new direction.
Strolling to work, absorbed in thought, George Feuerfeld is caught unaware by a dust storm that causes him to lose hold of an important envelope. When Dudley Crimp leaps up to close a window against the storm on the upstairs floor of the tailor's shop where he works, he finds the envelope, and an intriguing chain of events ensues.