In 1940, journalist and author
R. J. Cassidy ('Gilrooney') indicated to Brisbane bibliophile,
Fr. Leo Hayes, that this work had in fact been written by the Sydney journalist
E. J. Dempsey. However, whether Cassidy's claim was in fact correct remains unclear. The work was clearly attributed to Winspear when it was first published in the
Australian Worker in 1916, where it appeared with Claude Marquet's illustration.
