In England, Herbert Spencer struggles to support his five children after the death of his wife. When a letter arrives from Herbert's long-lost brother in Australia, it seems that their fortunes might be about to change. Will they travel to Australia and start a new life on a cattle station? And will their beloved Uncle David be able to join them? The Oxford Companion to Australian Children's Literature notes that 'much of the book is taken up with the family's life in England and the voyage to the Colony. They arrive in Melbourne and set out through the bush via the gold-diggings for a property on the Murray River' (161).