Cirrus@Austlit

Colonel Arthur Henderson and his friend Ralph Maxwell are participants in George Arthur's 'Black Line,' making camp amongst some rocks. Arthur tells Ralph how he plans to establish himself in Hobart on a property he's just bought - he carries the title to the land with him - and how he yearns for his wife Jeannie back in England. Arthur is subsequently thrown from his horse and killed. Ralph returns to Hobart where he finds a letter addressed to his companion, revealing that Jeannie is on her way to the colony. Jeannie arrives to find herself not only widowed but also swindled out of her husband's valuable landholding by a dodgy lawyer (who denies the Henderson's claim because of the missing paperwork). Jeannie's son (Arthur) marries and has a daughter - also named Jeannie - but his wife and mother (Jeannie senior) die within a few months of each other. Brokenhearted Arthur (junior) soon follows leaving young Jeannie an orphan to be supported by the faithful Ralph until his own death some years later. Jeannie finds work as a teacher in the Midlands, where she meets, and falls in love with, Jack Fenton. The pair finally discover the secret of their 'trysting place' at the 'Big Rock'. There, on the exact spot where Arthur and Ralph camped years before, the missing deeds to the property rightfully belonging to Jeannie reappear.