Challenges H.M. Green's judgement that William Gosse Hay's talent was 'not of the first order, even by Australian standards'. Investigates the basis of this reputation by examining Hay's sources of information for his historical novels, and the use he made of some of them in The Escape of Sir William Heans. Concludes that Hay, as an historical novelist, adhered as closely as he knew how to historical fact and succeeded in subordinating the historical element to the artistic demands of the whole.