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Written in Exeter in 1889 by Rev J H L Zillmann, "one of the oldest free white born natives of Queensland, and the very oldest native Queenslander who has taken Holy Orders in the Church of England". He was born in 1841, the son of one of the German missionaries who arrived in the Nundah area in 1838, and was one-time Rector of St Paul's, Ipswich, Queensland.

The book is mostly personal reminiscences of Zillmann with stories of the first explorers, convicts, blacks, and bush-rangers of Australia and a short historical sketch of the colonies, their progress and present condition. Written following a series of public lectures in England, the book was compiled to provide English readers with a detailed description of life in the Australian colonies.

A friend had told Zillmann of the English that "They know absolutely nothing about us,