AustLit

'Arrived in Victoria in 1854, Jerome Whitelaw tries his fortune on the goldfields in partnership with Barney O'Neil. On the way to Ballarat they prevent Black Maconachie, a bushranger, from robbing a coach in which are travelling Catherine Slade, daughter of the Goldfields Commissioner, and her maid, Maggie At Ballarat, they become involved in a fracas at the Eureka Hotel, where Barney is wounded by the licensee a notorious scoundrel named Bentley. He is treated by Tom Bourke, an American doctor, and Marie Parkes, an actress employed by Bentley's dance hall. Barney an Jerome stake out a claim, but on the way to register it are arrested by Lieutenant Hamilton, Catherine's fiancé, and Sergeant Haines, for not having diggers' licences although they explain they are on the way to take them out. Commissioner Slade dismisses the charges, but pointedly tells them that the service they were able to render his daughter is now squared. By now Jerome has discovered that the Ballarat goldfields are seething with discontent, and that the diggers are ripe for trouble. Sergeant Haines visits Jerome's claim and provokes him into a quarrel, but further trouble is avoided by the intervention of Peter Lalor, champion of the digger's rights, and Marie Parkes.' (Australian Journal, publisher's abstract)