This book gives a lively account of the growth of the city of Hobart from its earliest days as a convict settlement to a metropolis with wide streets and fine buildings. It is the story both of the city and of the people who built the city, its saints and sinners, its rich and its poor: the Franklins, who inspired the cultural life of the town; Farrell, who could not keep out of gaol; Henry Propsting, the goose-stealer who made good through chapel and charitable society. The transformation of the convict settlement to Hobart, capital of the flourishing island state of Tasmania, is paralleled in the lives of its people. Their lives have proved false the old belief in an ineradicable strain of villainy in convict blood, incapable of redemption. As this book shows, the people now have cause to be proud of their forefathers, both bound and free, who built for them a rich heritage from unpromising beginnings. This is a fascinating study of past generations, their foibles, failures and successes, perhaps above all their courage and determination.